Quick Reaction: Spurs 112, Raptors 117

Timely help-side rotations, short-roll shot-making, rim-runs. A breath of fresh air to see the hands and mobility that he brought to the starting center position tonight. Good stuff.

Huge fan of his offensive involvement early on. Featured in the stagger screen set early, and took on repeated possessions in the pick n’ roll as the game progressed. A pull-up triple went down. Stuck multiple catch and shoot triples. Brought his classically great defense. Awesome.

Really helped close out a bunch of defensive possessions when competing on the glass. The Spurs send their guards in to stealth rebound and he beat them to the punch repeatedly. The pick n’ pop/flare actions are still a win for the Raptors offense, and he is a natural complement to Siakam’s game. Too many turnovers, but that’s life.

An inefficient shooting night, but was a major factor in a lot of the Raptors offensive success. Attacked gaps with a little more patience later on in the game and helped the Raptors close it out, in addition to playmaking consistently for his 37 minutes of playtime. That, and a nice game defensively full of problem solving.

The 3-point potency is extremely meaningful. And he’s capable of dusting a lot of players who switch out onto him with an impressive in-n-out dribble or a hesitation. Providing the Raptors with a quality pick n’ roll reset option has been fantastic to fall back on. He just makes quality ‘point guard’ decisions in the flow of the game. And his defense is still bang on to my eye.

Grading on a curve, naturally. The extra shot-making pop that he’s worked into his game transforms him – and his excellent defense – from a borderline rotation player, to a player you feel guilty about not getting into double-digits. Multiple transformative defensive plays, and really impressive shot hunting. Excellent game.

Beat DeMar DeRozan and Nathan Knight at the summit in back to back games. Have to love guys who contest dunks. Improvisational screening is pretty on the ball, and he consistently finds himself in the right place on both sides of the court. He’s been moving so well in space. Forget the 10-day, offer him the 2-year contract.

Came into the game and formed up off of drives and banged triples offensively. Defensively, he showed off his defensive range (which was prevalent before he missed time) and continued to make a difference contesting shots. Is really picking up on how to cycle through the Raptors defense.

Had a couple encouraging pick n’ roll possessions. But, his performance was mostly non-descript.

If Watanabe and Watson continue to perform like this, he’s likely the odd man out. We’ll see how the rotation shapes up going forward.

Loved the sets to open up Anunoby and Siakam in this one. Far more screen help than we’re used to seeing them get. That alone gets an A+ from me. Not to mention the defensive game plan was pretty crisp in this game.