Quick Reaction: Raptors 88, Celtics 104

Minimal impact on the game. Had some nice moments defensively where he pried the ball away a couple times, but didn’t look to create on offense and got shuttered by pretty much everyone who was guarding him. It’s not like he’s seeing a lot of double teams or extra attention, so you expect him to at least find some level of efficient offense, but no dice.

Looked to establish a post-game and had decent success getting deep into the paint – he should do more of that to soften the defense. You can see that he’s feeling the pressure of carrying this team when the offense dries up, and given that this is the first year where he’s “the man” (no offense to Siakam), we should expect him to experiment. I still think he can get way more quality shots than he gets, especially in the mid-range where defenses afford him the space.

He guarded everyone from Dennis Schroeder to Jayson Tatum to Al Horford. Defensively, he’s the most versatile Raptor and knows the tactic to adopt in each matchup. The Raptors need to use him a lot more as a passer at the elbow, because guys like to move when he’s got the ball and we don’t put him in enough situations where he can pick out guys. This is especially important since our half-court offense remains suspect. He should have taken 10 more FGAs than he did. He’s also our main guy getting to the line which is crazy for a rookie.

He ball-watches on rebounds instead of boxing out which led to the Celtics getting a couple offensive boards. In games like these you worry that he might concede too much defensively because of his size, but the Raptors have enough size elsewhere where this doesn’t seem to be much of an issue. I counted only two possessions where there was a concerted effort by the Celtics to isolate him on D (Smart and Taytum). Offensively, he was solid in both distribution and long-range shooting. You just have to wonder how much gas he has in the tank to play an up-tempo style consistently – perhaps more Banton and slightly less Fred may be the right balance.

He was too passive and didn’t bother looking for the shots he knows he can get. Maybe with Siakam back he’s trying to find his volume and opportunities, but on this night when Siakam is misfiring and offensive help is needed, your best one-on-one player needs to be more visible.

His shots look like wavering quivers fired by a one-eyed marksman who had a Jameson too many. His dribbling is awkward and his compete level vacillates between drudgery and laziness. When he does try to contest shots his guards let him down by not boxing out, making him look even worse.

His grade is an average of giving him A+ for the first half of the possession, and an F for the second. He had a couple nice steals which were followed by bewildering decisions in the open court. The same when he finds himself with any sort of space in the half-court: he’ll get the ball using an offensive rebound or by being found on a nice cut, but what follows is heavy turbulence and a sub-par decision.

I guess he played.

Since he doesn’t have the ability to get by his man and into the painted stuff, he’ll fake doing it (which nobody falls for), and then predictably backs up to either reset to pull up. This is highly unimaginative of Flynn, and I’m not even sure what the instructions to him are. Players like these can stay on the court if they can shoot, but that’s a tall ask of him.

Had a good spell in the first half but then was introduced too late in the third where Nurse opted to go for Flynn instead. Didn’t make any sense at the time, nor does it now. He basically needs to be playing with Fred more so the Raptors have two legit ball-handlers to create. Had a nice block which sent the ball to the sixth row.

He’s become a solid role player after a slow start to the season. Had a nice cut without the ball which he finished using a turnaround baseline fade, and defensively he was responsibly active. His physicality is an asset so Nurse likes playing him with the lanky guys to add some guard muscle, and it pays off.

I didn’t like playing Flynn or the Boucher minutes. I’m not sure why he didn’t instruct GTJ to be more aggressive and call more plays for him, especially out of timeouts. Barnes also needs to be a more central part of an offense rather than one-offs here and there. Rather than initiating the half-court set through guards looking to penetrate, giving it to Barnes and having him survey may be the better option.