We already have your pre-game, your post-game, and your quick reactions for every game, but by popular demand (a few people on Twitter) I am bringing my quarterly positives right here in long-form. Rather than try to sum them up in 240 characters or less, I can now expand on what I liked each quarter of the game. If you’re familiar with this format, you’ll know what to expect. If you aren’t, just know that if there is a baby wearing noise-canceling headphones, it counts as a positive and it’s going on the list.
First Quarter Positives:
- Fred has already glued himself to Steph Curry, knocking him out of bounds as Steph shakes his head, probably from the flashbacks of 2019.
- Switching on Steph and not allowing him room to breathe. It started with Freddy and then Khem kept him from getting open, forcing him to kick it inside to Jordan Poole.
- Scottie steals the pass from Steph as he makes the quick decision to try to throw the ball to the other side of the court after escaping Fred’s defence only to run into Khem. The steal leads to a Khem bucket and foul, where he makes the free throw.
- Scottie sets a screen for Fred, who bounces inside to Khem.
- Gary misses the 3, but Khem grabs the rebound and sends it right back out to him to allow him to reset his shot and drive.
- Dalano and Precious are in to change the game! That is an absolutely monstrous pick and roll with the two of them, but it worked!
- Pascal shooting over Chris Chioza, remembering who he is.
- Draymond trampled Fred. He poked the bear.
- Gary hit a 3! It’s only a 14 point game!
- Dalano midrange jumper behind the Precious screen! Are they the new Splash Brothers?
Second Quarter Positives:
- Dalano throwing the bullet pass to Pascal under the basket.
- Former Warrior Chris Boucher is playing at a steadier pace tonight, allowing him to make more beneficial decisions that cut the Warriors’ lead to just 9.
- Precious has been an excellent facilitator throughout the second quarter. He’s constantly passing up shots that he would have forced just a few weeks ago, passing or screening off of the hand off to get his teammates better looks.
- Dalano is so fast. He hands the pass off to Gary almost at the logo and then is curling baseline within about a second.
- Precious for 3! Dalano draws 2 defenders into the paint, allowing Precious an uncontested shot.
- Khem Birch scoring on the inside off of the Scottie Barnes gravitational pull rebound and coast to coast drive.
- Scottie is back with the no-look pass! This time off of the rebound and up to Pascal for the make, cutting the lead to 14 again before half-time.
Third Quarter Positives:
- Swing! Fred drives inside and passes out to Scottie, who swings it to Pascal for the catch and shoot 3.
- Gary fouls Kevon Looney on the shot, not allowing him to score in action. Looney, who is a 62 % career free throw shooter, misses both shots.
- Scottie saves the rebound and the Raptors don’t get called for the over and back. Great decision making across the board from the Raptors so far this half.
- Crashing the boards. Pascal kicks it from the baseline to Khem in the lane, who misses, grabs his own rebound, misses again, and Pascal is still there to clean it up.
- Scottie makes his first field goal of the game, and it’s a 3!
- And another one right after, this one as he takes it right to the rack and gets the foul.
- Khem creating a turnover and giving it to Scottie, who sends it inside for the Pascal make.
- Fearless Freddy drives right through the defence to the rim.
- Chris Boucher grabs the rebound and brings it across to Dalano, who sends it to Precious on the inside, again drawing the defenders and leaving Fred open where he makes the 3.
- The Bouch is back.
- Dalano sprints up the court with the defensive rebound and gives it to Fred for the make.
Fourth Quarter Positives:
- Dalano crossover stepback 3 to open the quarter?????? He’s so perfect I could cry.
- Svi for 3! We’re rolling!
- Chris Boucher using his verticality to defend the Otto Porter shot and then grabs the rebound.
- Malachi steals the rebound out of the grasp of Steph Curry, sending it back to Chris Boucher who makes it on the second attempt.
- Speedy Precious coast to coast and one!
- Fred made the almost out of bounds baseline 3 look easy.
- AND THEN HE HITS ONE FROM THE TOP! BACK TO BACK! THE GAME IS CUT TO 10!
- Precious is fighting to the bitter end. He is doing everything he can to improve and earn his spot.
- Steph only has a single made 3 throughout the whole game. This is great if you ignore the fact that Andrew Wiggins and Jordan Poole both have about a million.
- Scottie coast to coast! The game is essentially over, with Toronto down 17. Why not let him get his groove back?
FINAL SCORE: GSW 119 – TOR 104
POSITIVE PLAYER OF THE GAME: ANDREW WIGGINS
