 A | K. Birch29 MIN, 14 PTS, 6 REB, 1 AST, 2 STL, 7-9 FG, 0-2 3FG, 0-0 FT, 2 BLK, 0 TO, 7 +/- Birch was the Raptors best player in the first half. Ignited a 20-2 run on both ends of the floor. Blocked a shot on the perimeter, and continues to find success rolling to the rim, even stopping mid roll for a short jumper.This makes Lowry a better playmaker, because he now has a sure handed big to find. That just wasn’t available earlier in the season. Said that it’s the easiest 14 points he has scored in his career. He needs to get off 14 for a new career-high soon. | ||||||||
 B- | F. VanVleet31 MIN, 8 PTS, 5 REB, 6 AST, 1 STL, 3-10 FG, 1-5 3FG, 1-2 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, 14 +/- Fred was the only Raptor to make a three in the first half. Ran the second unit during a critical 4th quarter stretch with Flynn where he was a little dribble heavy, but Stanley and Malachi made plays. Quiet night overall. | ||||||||
 A- | P. Siakam31 MIN, 25 PTS, 5 REB, 4 AST, 0 STL, 11-19 FG, 2-5 3FG, 1-2 FT, 1 BLK, 3 TO, 17 +/- Pascal has been a sub 30 percent three point shooter most of this season. Any rhythm he can catch from there is huge. Really aggressive going downhill in the 2nd and 3rd quarters, topped by a RUDE left handed dunk in transition. He has moments that really leave you in awe. | ||||||||
 B+ | O. Anunoby32 MIN, 20 PTS, 5 REB, 2 AST, 1 STL, 9-15 FG, 0-5 3FG, 2-2 FT, 1 BLK, 0 TO, 18 +/- Love to see the consistency now as a scorer. What’s even better is OG isn’t relying solely on the three point shot (which wasn’t falling) for points anymore. Lots of attacking the rim, and occasionally finding a cutter on his drives. Fourth straight 20+ scoring game. The usual defensive clinic. | ||||||||
 B | K. Lowry33 MIN, 9 PTS, 5 REB, 10 AST, 0 STL, 3-9 FG, 1-6 3FG, 2-2 FT, 1 BLK, 2 TO, 15 +/- As Lowry tends to do with most bigs (Amir, JV, Serge), Kyle has found beautiful chemistry with Birch on the high screen and roll. He’s still struggling with his shot, but he’s only played a handful of games in the last month. That would mess up most rhythms. | ||||||||
 A | M. Flynn24 MIN, 18 PTS, 5 REB, 5 AST, 2 STL, 4-6 FG, 2-4 3FG, 8-8 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, 6 +/- Star of the 2nd half. Took advantage of a bizarre late 3rd turnover by Kevin Love for a three pointer, then got a steal on the other end which led to Freddie Gillespie free throws. Those two plays pushed the Raptors lead to 11 going into the 4th. Beautiful dish for a Yuta dunk. Timely stuff to put the game away. The rookie loves winning time. | ||||||||
 A- | Y. Watanabe19 MIN, 9 PTS, 2 REB, 0 AST, 0 STL, 4-4 FG, 1-1 3FG, 0-0 FT, 1 BLK, 1 TO, 5 +/- Yuta was the one reserve that got a couple baskets in the Cavs 2-3 zone early 2nd quarter. Everyone else struggled mightily, and the bench mob line-up was given a quick hook afterwards. Well deserved extension on his second half run with numerous high IQ plays. | ||||||||
 C | F. Gillespie13 MIN, 6 PTS, 2 REB, 0 AST, 0 STL, 1-2 FG, 0-0 3FG, 4-4 FT, 0 BLK, 2 TO, 0 +/- Some good, some bad. A little foul prone and needs to watch the moving screens. Displayed some of that perimeter mobility on defence. | ||||||||
 B | S. Johnson10 MIN, 3 PTS, 2 REB, 1 AST, 1 STL, 1-2 FG, 1-1 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, 4 +/- Timely bailout three to put the Raptors up eight early 4th on a possession that was going absolutely nowhere. Also was the beneficiary of that Love turnover that Flynn made a three on. Random pass that sailed out of bounds yes, but good minutes. | ||||||||
 D | D. Bembry7 MIN, 0 PTS, 1 REB, 2 AST, 0 STL, 0-2 FG, 0-0 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 2 TO, -3 +/- Coming off a couple of DNP-CD’s, Bembry didn’t show much to warrant a lot of minutes. Really buttery hands, fumbling a couple of good passes that would have ended up in baskets. Also has been really turnover prone lately. No surprise that he didn’t see the court again until garbage time. | ||||||||
 C | R. Hood6 MIN, 0 PTS, 2 REB, 1 AST, 0 STL, 0-1 FG, 0-0 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, -3 +/- He’s the hardest guy to grade. He’ll come in for a few second quarter minutes, do nothing notable but nothing horrible, take a shot or two that he may or may not make. Your guess. | ||||||||
 A | Nick Nurse The Cavs 2-3 zone vs the bench + no Trent kind of befuddled the Raptors a little bit. Nurse countered with a zone of his own. Bold move to go all bench anyway, but this is the first leg of that dreaded back-to-back. Didn’t overplay anybody with Brooklyn coming up again. Yuta and Flynn deserved their extended looks. | ||||||||
Things We Saw
- REVERSE PERSONALITY? We’ve seen the Raptors have quite a few hot starts from three, but scoring in the paint was their Achilles heel. That completely flipped in the first quarter, where they scored 24 points in the paint. Toronto only shot 1-15 from three in the first half, but still led thanks to the Lowry-Birch combination and some downhill work by Siakam in the 2nd quarter. They wouldn’t have won a game where they shot this bad earlier in the season.
- NEXT 5 GAMES: We all looked at this upcoming Nets-Nuggets-Jazz-Lakers-Clippers death tour with fear as soon as the second half of the schedule was released. Make or break time!
