Quick Reaction: Raptors 133, Warriors 118

O Canada, our home and native land. This was RJ Barrett’s night, and clearly his finest performance as a new Raptor to date. The moment he connected on his first 3-pointer just seconds into the game, you knew something special was about to happen. Barrett was aggressive, efficient, and contributed across the board beyond what he did as a scorer. Thanks again, New York.

It was the second game in a row where Pascal Siakam failed to register at least 20 points, but he didn’t need to be that player tonight with RJ Barrett carrying the load. For someone whose name is constantly tossed around in trade rumors, and with reports emerging about his relationship with the front office, you’d never know how murky things may be through Siakam’s efforts. He drilled a number of timely shots to stop the bleeding during runs by the opposition, which is to be expected from an All-NBA talent.

There was a little bit of a scare there when Jakob Poeltl came down and landed on Pascal Siakam’s foot, although nothing ultimately came of it. There were some blown opportunities on the glass in which Poeltl failed to box out around the basket, which didn’t help with the offensive rebound numbers Golden State notched. It was a fine showing with some quality looks around the bucket aided by a soft touch which isn’t as consistent as Poeltl may like.

While not ideal, you’ll certainly take the Raptors blowing out the Warriors in the fashion they did with Scottie Barnes putting forth one of his weaker offensive performances of the campaign. His shot didn’t cooperate with him as it did for a number of his teammates, but he definitely made up for it defensively when tasked with guarding Stephen Curry, who put up a goose egg from behind the arc.

Six of Immanuel Quickley’s 10 assists came in the first quarter, while nine were in the first half alone. It’s just the fifth time in his career that he’s dished out 10 or more assists in a game, but it only took his fourth outing in a Raptors uniform to record his latest. You have to believe management views Quickley as their point guard of the future, so watching him run the offense as effectively as he did while not turning the rock over once must continue to instil a ton of confidence.

Making Dennis Schroder the Raptors’ backup point guard has been such a graceful transition for all parties, and while there were points tonight when he struggled to keep the pace and took some questionable attempts, Schroder is still in the perfect role for this roster to thrive.

This was just the second time in Gary Trent Jr’s last five games that he’s hit the double-digit mark with his scoring. With the new pieces in the fold, off nights for Trent Jr. may not be as glaring as they once were, but what he pulled off against the Warriors was anything but. He hit a left-handed layup driving to the hoop which caught everyone watching off guard, and his 30-foot 3-pointer with 27 seconds remaining in the third quarter couldn’t have come at a better time.

The nicest thing I can say about Jontay Porter is that he plays like he belongs. For a player in his situation being tasked with being one of the first bigs off the bench, Porter has for the most part played composed basketball and isn’t afraid to shoot the rock despite being the clear-cut fifth option at all times. His lone bucket came as a putback off a miss from RJ Barrett, being in the right place at the right time.

Jack Armstrong strained his vocal cords with the amount of times he said “Bonjour!” during the broadcast. It was all warranted, though, as Chris Boucher was lights out with his shot. He trailed the fast break and cleaned up a missed layup at the buzzer to close the third quarter to give Toronto some much-needed momentum heading into the fourth, at which point Boucher continued to torch the Warriors. No misses. No worries.

He played.

The greatest courtside coach who’s not actually a coach but we call him a coach anyway saw some garbage time minutes.

Thaddeus Young finished with more 3-pointers tonight than Stephen Curry. Absorb that information and do with it as you will.

The third quarter got dicey for the Raptors, as Golden State cut Toronto’s lead to nine after trailing by 27 points at halftime. Rajakovic’s rotations were crisp with no one needing to play an exorbitant amount of minutes in what was basically a blowout from start to finish. He also wasn’t afraid to call timeouts early when the Warriors made runs here and there, including one after Dario Saric had an eternity and a half to knock down an uncontested 3-pointer.