Magic stun the Raptors

The struggles of the Toronto Raptors all joined together last night in what was arguably the most disappointing loss of the season. The Orlando Magic are a young up and coming team in the midst of a rebuild and they have the 27th best offense in the NBA but they were able to dismantle Toronto last night.


One of the biggest issues with Toronto the past few games has been rotating properly on defense and this has led to teams getting great looks from three and this was the case last night as well. Toronto also simply had no answer for the wing duo of Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner. Franz Wager specifically had no trouble getting downhill and to the rim last night and a lot of his looks at the rim there was no backline help to deter him away. Franz was guarded by the best Toronto had to offer and still he was finding his way to the rim which is a testament to his skill but also some insight into Toronto’s bad rotations.

The Orlando Magic as a team are shooting 33.6% from three this season but last night they shot 38.5% from three as a result of poor rotations from Toronto. Even with all this going against them Toronto still managed to make this a close game after they were down big at various points in the night. Any time the Magic jumped out to a lead it would be Pascal Siakam dragging Toronto back into it and when I say he was doing everything he was really doing everything for them last night.

Pascal had 36 points, 9 rebounds, and 7 assists last night and was the biggest part of the comeback in this game. During the closing minutes it appeared as if Pascal was everywhere on the court. One second he’s providing weak-side rim protection and then you turn your head and he’s battling on the offensive glass and cleaning up his teammates and his own misses. Whatever you needed from him he provided last night as is the case during most Raptor games.

Fred VanVleet is slowly but surely getting back into his rhythm and is staying away from the single digit scoring games as of late. The defense is also looking good, Fred has some of the best hands in the league and that showed last night after he stripped Bol Bol and Paolo Banchero. The shooting splits though just haven’t been what we are accustomed to and once again he shot poorly last night. 2 of 9 from three last night but he still managed to put up 19 points because of his aggressiveness going towards the rim. It’s nice that Fred has found a way to impact the game even if his outside shot isn’t working.

Gary Trent Jr. has slid into his bench role pretty smoothly and he has replaced Chris Boucher as the Raptors lead offensive weapon off the bench. Gary just plays within the flow of the offense now and mostly plays off of the playmakers on the team now. He looks a lot more comfortable and his shot was on last night as well and Gary off the bench is just a great new wrinkle to this team.

The Toronto Raptors play their next game against the Orlando Magic and hopefully the thrashing Franz gave them last night wakes them up and gets everyone more focused on defense. It’s a long tough season and you can’t afford to not take advantage of bad teams like the Orlando Magic.