 A- | P. Siakam35 MIN, 16 PTS, 14 REB, 4 AST, 3 STL, 5-14 FG, 1-3 3FG, 5-7 FT, 0 BLK, 4 TO, +6 +/- Pascal got in early foul trouble for the second straight game. To his credit, Siakam didn’t pick up a fourth foul after Nurse kept him in the game with more than seven minutes still remaining in the second quarter. Was relentless on the offensive glass, tying a career-high with 7. Great defence down the stretch, especially during a possession against Bam Adebayo in the post. | |
 A- | O. Anunoby36 MIN, 13 PTS, 3 REB, 3 AST, 1 STL, 6-10 FG, 0-1 3FG, 1-1 FT, 0 BLK, 3 TO, -4 +/- OG had a couple of nice reads in the first half, finding Achiuwa cutting for a dunk and spotting an open Trent for three. Was quiet for the most part until he dunked right THROUGH Jimmy Butler. That was super impressive. One of the key plays of the game was OG grabbing the offensive board and layup to put the Raptors up six. Max Strus picking up an offensive foul in frustration was just icing on the cake. Then found a cutting Barnes to put the Raptors up eight with under two minutes left. Reverse combo for a inbounds lob to seal it. The boxscore doesn’t tell the story about how huge he was late. Didn’t have a great game until the fourth, but that’s where winning time is so I rate that. | |
 B+ | S. Barnes42 MIN, 11 PTS, 9 REB, 2 AST, 0 STL, 5-13 FG, 1-2 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, +5 +/- Scottie only took 7 shots in Atlanta, his fewest shot attempt total in nearly a month (Jan 5 @ MIL). Did that and more in the first quarter alone with eight attempts, primarily on drives and post ups. Had a tough time dealing with Adebayo, which many players do. What a inbounds lob to OG to seal the game. | |
 B+ | F. VanVleet38 MIN, 21 PTS, 4 REB, 6 AST, 3 STL, 5-11 FG, 2-6 3FG, 9-11 FT, 1 BLK, 3 TO, +2 +/- Fred only took a season-low two shots in the first half. Came out firing in the third quarter with 11 points in the first few minutes. He had a couple of momentum killing plays with the Raptors up mid fourth with the missed pullup three and turnover. Did a great job getting to the line. Had double digit free throw attempts for the first time this season. Huge defensive play late being a pest on Butler and forcing an out of bounds turnover. | |
 A+ | G. Trent Jr.41 MIN, 33 PTS, 2 REB, 1 AST, 1 STL, 11-20 FG, 6-10 3FG, 5-8 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, +3 +/- The man is on a roll, what else is there to say? His first half scoring kept the Raptors in the game. Made PJ Tucker look dumb attempting a flop on one of his threes. Promptly went over 30 for the fifth straight game after that. Ties DeMar DeRozan for the franchise record. You could hear “GARY GARY” chants for a little while there by the few fans able to attend. Gary Sr was in the house too. Never lose the headband. | |
 C | C. Boucher18 MIN, 2 PTS, 3 REB, 0 AST, 0 STL, 1-3 FG, 0-1 3FG, 0-0 FT, 1 BLK, 0 TO, +3 +/- That’s a thick ass headband man (started wearing one yesterday). Did he get inspired by Gary? Boucher had a scoring opportunity against Gabe Vincent on the baseline (6 inch advantage) and hilariously didn’t even think of attacking. The play ended in a Fred turnover. | |
 A | P. Achiuwa19 MIN, 12 PTS, 7 REB, 1 AST, 1 STL, 5-7 FG, 2-3 3FG, 0-2 FT, 1 BLK, 2 TO, -1 +/- This was one of my favourite Precious games. It’s the third time in five games that he’s made a three. Chipped in killing Miami on the offensive glass. The contested corner three over Butler surprised me, just shows you how confident he’s getting in his shot. Some much needed bench scoring. | |
 C | J. Champagnie5 MIN, 0 PTS, 0 REB, 0 AST, 0 STL, 0-0 FG, 0-0 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, +2 +/- Lackadaisical turnover on a pass with Butler lurking. Turned into a Bam alley-oop dunk. Can’t do that. That was the only thing I noticed in his five minutes. | |
 A | D. Banton8 MIN, 2 PTS, 1 REB, 3 AST, 0 STL, 1-3 FG, 0-0 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, +4 +/- Loved his stint in the fourth quarter. Found Pascal in a soft spot in the paint for an easy floater. Scored in transition to put the Raptors up five. Made his eight minutes count. | |
 A | Nick Nurse Rolled the dice keeping Siakam in after he picked up his third foul early in the second quarter and it worked out Once again the Raptors came out with more energy in the third quarter after a sluggish first half. The football formation looking handoff to Trent that ended up in a Precious putback was the most interesting play all season in my opinion. Totally caught Miami off guard. Nurse followed that up with inserting an all 6-8 plus lineup that provided a big spark to start the fourth. Doesn’t get any better than the play call with eight seconds left where Scottie found OG on the lob. | |
Things We Saw
- SCOTTIE AND PRECIOUS: It was announced that both players will be in the Rising Stars Challenge. Congrats to both!
- THIRD QUARTER: Make it seven straight games the Raps have made the correct adjustments coming out of halftime. 30-21 advantage in this one, now a +66 during this stretch.
- KYLE LOWRY: Continuing to hope everything is okay with the GROAT. Hopefully he can play in the final game between these teams in April.
