Quick Reaction: Raptors 104, Warriors 119

A tale of two halves (both good). In the first half, despite a less-than-ideal shot selection, he was still fairly efficient. He hit his midrangers, grinding his way to his points. Some nights are like that — you can’t get easy ones all the time. Honestly, props to Pascal for making as many as he did, rather than criticism for the choices. Then in the second half he went off, hitting triples, driving and creating for teammates (who didn’t finish), and hitting the offensive glass. He cut well, finished well. A really good offensive game kind of lost in the shuffle of the beatdown.

His help defense was dramatically better to start the game, rotating early, getting in passing lanes, and protecting the rim. He picked up quick fouls, and when he came back, that juice seemed to be gone. He missed a blockout to help Achiuwa after the latter made an incredible block; Barnes has recently paid better attention to boxing out, so it was frustrating to see that issue rear its head again. He looked unsure of himself on offense, moving slow and often dribbling to nowhere. The whistle (which admittedly is rough for him) seemed to really get in his head for a stretch. But then he hit a pair of triples, which seemed to get him on track. He does so much stuff that even if a bunch of his game seems out of whack, he’ll still contribute in other ways. A rookie game for a superrookie.

He looked spry. Ran in transition, got bouncy in the pick and roll, and attacked the offensive glass. His teammates really didn’t have his back on the defensive end, as he forced a bunch of misses around the rim, yet no one cracked back to rebound, so a lot of those possessions ended up as points for Golden State. He didn’t end up playing a lot, but he was solid when he did.

He had a lot of trouble getting open looks with the incredibly long Andrew Wiggins on him. Wiggins has legitimately become an elite defender over the past few years, so the idea was impressive for Golden State. When it wasn’t Wiggins, it was Otto Porter. VanVleet finished pretty well around the rim despite that. But in general, Golden State just made other players beat them (until the fourth quarter, when of course VanVleet went on a casual personal 6-0 run). On the other end, VanVleet actually did a great job jamming up Curry’s desires, blowing up his pet plays with Draymond Green. Look, the final score didn’t reflect it, but VanVleet’s defense was as good as it’s been recently.

His shot diet was a little overeager to start, as he isolated for large portions of the shot clock, or drove for distance floaters. He can make those, but it’s not how he’s most effective. The Warriors kind of bullied him on the other end, as he made a lot of questionable choices and had five fouls midway through the third quarter.

Aggressive Boucher again. He was active on the offensive glass. He hit a triple but didn’t make his usual defensive impact. A solid game, without bringing the zest Toronto needed from the bench. Did have a foolish turnover in the fourth when Toronto had a smidge of momentum with the deep bench on the court.

He entered the game off the bench, again, and immediately threw down a dunk, again. Last year, Aron Baynes was way overextended as a starting center but was quietly pretty okay as a bench center. Achiuwa is going through a similar trajectory, although with far less extreme negatives. Achiuwa just looks good off the bench, more comfortable, and with more confidence in his choices. He attacked the offensive glass and even hit a corner three. He ran in transition. Really good stuff.

He played in the fourth, but he overdribbled a little bit and couldn’t do much with the ball. Had a great offensive rebound.

He looked bouncy again tonight, too. His legs have looked a little fried in a few recent games, but he had the sauce back. He hit a pair of midrangers in the first quarter, and he had some nifty passses, too. He made some blatant defensive mistakes, including X-ing the wrong way, giving up a wide-open corner triple. But them’s the breaks with rookies. Hit a three!

Quick off the bench, and he quickly had a poor closeout on Steph. That’s not unforgivable, given how hard it is to close out on Steph, but he had a few more slow ones throughout the first quarter. He didn’t give enough on offense to make his defensive lapses suriveavble.

It looked like he aligned VanVleet’s minutes to match him up against Curry, and the defense really benefited as a result. He ran some fun jank defenses on Steph, including a box and one in the fourth. (Which resulted in a really tough shot at the end of the clock that of course the Warriors made.) Toronto didn’t compete, but that wasn’t Nurse’s fault.