Siakam double dribbles with game on the line pic.twitter.com/BSKUyfdWt9
— Raptors Republic (@raptorsrepublic) April 12, 2021
 | TOR Raptors | 96 | Final Box Score | 102 | NY Knicks |  |
 B+ | C. Boucher30 MIN, 17 PTS, 14 REB, 0 AST, 0 STL, 6-10 FG, 1-3 3FG, 4-4 FT, 4 BLK, 0 TO, -4 +/- Had a hard time early in the game dealing with the physicality of the Knicks bigs but really held his own later on. Did a great job on the glass and had some nice finishes. | ||||||||
 D- | P. Siakam35 MIN, 16 PTS, 0 REB, 7 AST, 0 STL, 5-18 FG, 1-5 3FG, 5-5 FT, 2 BLK, 5 TO, -4 +/- Usually, you can tell what kind of game Pascal is going to have in the first three minutes. Barely attacked the rim, his shot wasn’t falling, and his handle was pretty loose. Didn’t grab a single rebound. Despite all of that, he was still a threat as a playmaker. Went back to the basics by attacking in the 3rd. Passed up a couple shots he should have taken down the stretch and then had a double dribble in the final seconds when the Raptors could have tied the game. Pretty extensive lowlight reel in those situations this season. | ||||||||
 B- | D. Bembry21 MIN, 0 PTS, 1 REB, 0 AST, 2 STL, 0-1 FG, 0-0 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, -2 +/- Wasn’t a factor offensively but did a good job on defence. | ||||||||
 A- | K. Lowry37 MIN, 19 PTS, 7 REB, 6 AST, 3 STL, 5-10 FG, 2-7 3FG, 7-8 FT, 0 BLK, 5 TO, 1 +/- Kept the Raptors afloat early. Non Lowry Raptors shot 10-35 in the first half. Would not let Julius Randle back him down (or anyone ever for that matter). Can I give Kyle a grade bump for being a part-time assistant coach too? Was given a lot of attention from the Knicks defence late 4th. Found open shooters but shots didn’t fall. Got the clutch steal late and Siakam messed that up. Oh well. | ||||||||
 A- | G. Trent35 MIN, 23 PTS, 3 REB, 1 AST, 0 STL, 9-17 FG, 3-8 3FG, 2-2 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, -7 +/- Took some wild superstar shots in the first half. He’s capable of making them but that doesn’t mean you have to fire up heavily contested pullup threes with 20 seconds left on the shot clock. Took better in rhythm shots in the second half and got hot once again with 14 points in the 3rd. Starting to wonder what his ceiling is. | ||||||||
 B | M. Flynn26 MIN, 6 PTS, 5 REB, 4 AST, 0 STL, 2-9 FG, 1-4 3FG, 1-2 FT, 1 BLK, 3 TO, -3 +/- Flynn’s been in a nice rhythm but was obviously going to see his minutes dip in Lowry’s return. Malachi and Fred are going to be competing for who gets more weirdly labelled blocks in a couple years. It’s amazing how much of a pest he is on defence already. Was a big factor leading the new (?) bench mob to a brief 4th quarter lead. Also was on the court in clultch time, which will only help his development. Just needed one of those late open threes to fall. | ||||||||
 B+ | K. Birch17 MIN, 4 PTS, 5 REB, 0 AST, 0 STL, 2-4 FG, 0-0 3FG, 0-2 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, -3 +/- The vacancy of #24, previously worn by Norman Powell only lasted 17 days. Was involved in a couple miscommunications offensively, but what do you really expect? Loved his defensive effort in the 4th. | ||||||||
 A | Y. Watanabe15 MIN, 8 PTS, 3 REB, 1 AST, 3 STL, 3-5 FG, 2-4 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, -1 +/- I like how confident Yuta was shooting his threes tonight. He’s sometimes hesitant with that shot. Played his ass off on both ends. One of his best games. | ||||||||
 C+ | R. Hood11 MIN, 3 PTS, 1 REB, 0 AST, 0 STL, 1-4 FG, 1-3 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, 1 +/- Took two shots in the first half, one was an airball, and one hit the glass really really hard. Was part of the 4th quarter stretch that gave the Raptors the lead. | ||||||||
 C+ | F. Gillespie8 MIN, 0 PTS, 1 REB, 0 AST, 0 STL, 0-1 FG, 0-0 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, -8 +/- Helped the Raptors on the glass, not by getting boards himself, but by keeping a body on Knicks rebounders. | ||||||||
 B | Nick Nurse The Raptors trotted out with their 24th different starting line-up this season. The late first quarter lineup of Flynn/Bembry/Hood/Birch and Gillespie was one for the ages. Doubled down on that in the 4th mixing in Yuta for a large portion of the 4th and it worked for a bit. | ||||||||
Things We Saw
- RAIN DELAY? The Blue Jays had a rain delay vs the Angels yesterday and a cancellation today. Apparently those vibes stretched to another Toronto team for an 11 minute delay due to a leak. Who needs roofs anyway? Or roofs that work? Remember Game 1 vs Brooklyn 2014 where Herbie had to do 3-2-1-HORN? Too bad this wasn’t a playoff game so the Knicks could be nationally embarrassed.
- KNICKS SHOOTING – The Knicks shot a historically bad 3-36 from three in the first meeting this season, and didn’t shoot well this game either. Kind of lucky on the Raptors side because there were a lot of O-P-E-N shots. Rotations were slow in the first half.
- RJ BARRETT – This doesn’t apply to Barrett. You can see the growth in his three point shot. Barrett is shooting 68 percent (!!) on threes in April and made 3 more in this game, including the back breaking three with 34 seconds left. Barrett’s numbers are up across the board and it will be fun to watch him in his first playoff run.
