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Quick Reaction: Cavaliers 136, Raptors 106

A great first quarter...blow out rest of the way.

Cavaliers136Final
Box Score
106Raptors
D-
S. Barnes26 MIN, 9 PTS, 6 REB, 5 AST, 0 STL, 3-14 FG, 0-2 3FG, 3-4 FT, 0 BLK, 2 TO, -33 +/-

Aggressive start from Scottie B who was bullying smaller defenders when mismatched on offence. Scottie looked sloppy at times as he was stumbling and losing the ball with minimal defensive pressure. A good start but he faded the rest of the game with some bad mistakes.

C+
O. Agbaji25 MIN, 3 PTS, 6 REB, 1 AST, 1 STL, 1-1 FG, 0-0 3FG, 1-2 FT, 1 BLK, 0 TO, -18 +/-

Agbaji drew the spot start in place of the injured RJ Barrett. Solid defensive work from Ochai and did his job on the offensive end as well, as he didn’t force any bad shots tonight at all. Above average performance in my eyes.

D-
J. Pöltl26 MIN, 6 PTS, 9 REB, 2 AST, 0 STL, 2-6 FG, 0-0 3FG, 2-4 FT, 0 BLK, 5 TO, -13 +/-

Sluggish start, missing rebounds, a few bunnies at the rim, and bad help on the perimeter off of a pick and roll. He looked much better in the second quarter, which was his best quarter by far. Sloppy just like Scottie as he had butter fingers on passes and a bad inbound turnover that led to a Cavs 3. Way too many turnovers and easy buckets in the paint for the Cavs.

A+
G. Dick29 MIN, 16 PTS, 2 REB, 1 AST, 0 STL, 5-13 FG, 2-6 3FG, 4-4 FT, 2 BLK, 0 TO, -9 +/-

I like what I see from Gradey as he wasn’t just a stationary corner shooter. He was attacking the rim, creating off the dribble with a good baseline pull-up to start the game. A great double-clutch layup in the second quarter shows that Gradey has been working on his game. A huge block on Garland to start the third. He’s even attacking the offensive glass as he had a great putback late in the third quarter. Gradey looked different tonight.

A+
I. Quickley14 MIN, 13 PTS, 2 REB, 4 AST, 1 STL, 4-9 FG, 2-4 3FG, 3-4 FT, 0 BLK, 2 TO, -2 +/-

He had a great start in the first quarter as he scored the first bucket of the game for the Raptors with a three-ball and also on the defensive end as he was blowing up plays. Took a bad fall in the second quarter that led him to the locker room. A great night cut short due to injury, bummer.

A+
C. Boucher20 MIN, 18 PTS, 2 REB, 1 AST, 1 STL, 5-9 FG, 4-5 3FG, 4-6 FT, 1 BLK, 1 TO, -17 +/-

First bench player to check into the game after going m.i.a down the stretch late in the season last year. He brought the energy like he usually does, hitting the floor for a loose ball right away and making a play on the defensive side. Great energy throughout the whole game. It’s a coin flip between Boucher and Shead for the best player off the bench tonight.

C
D. Mitchell25 MIN, 8 PTS, 0 REB, 3 AST, 2 STL, 4-10 FG, 0-3 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 5 TO, -20 +/-

Not much doing in the first half. Took over for Quickley to start the second half. All his buckets came in the second half and garbage time which salvaged a pedestrian first half.

A+
J. Shead19 MIN, 10 PTS, 1 REB, 4 AST, 1 STL, 3-7 FG, 1-4 3FG, 3-3 FT, 1 BLK, 2 TO, -21 +/-

Showed some good pop off the bench with great defensive work, energy and some solid offensive output as well. Not much to complain about outside of an airmailed pass to a cutting Dick.

C
B. Fernando15 MIN, 6 PTS, 7 REB, 1 AST, 0 STL, 3-6 FG, 0-0 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, -10 +/-

An early Shaqtin’ a fool worthy play as he failed to inbound properly, which led to a Cavs triple. A good pick and roll with Shead that led to an alley-oop. The first half was forgettable for Bruno, but a much better showing in the second half.

C
J. Mogbo11 MIN, 7 PTS, 0 REB, 0 AST, 1 STL, 2-4 FG, 1-2 3FG, 2-2 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, -4 +/-

Checked in during the 2nd quarter. Didn’t offer much in the first half. A three-ball, steal and two free throws made in consecutive possessions late in the fourth which saved his night.

C+
J. Battle16 MIN, 6 PTS, 2 REB, 1 AST, 0 STL, 2-4 FG, 2-4 3FG, 0-0 FT, 1 BLK, 0 TO, 0 +/-

Got some run in the second half after the game got out of hand. All of his highlights came in the fourth quarter as he got a block off of help defence, threw a nice pass from his hips that led to Boucher getting to the charity stripe and connected on two three balls.

C
G. Temple09 MIN, 2 PTS, 0 REB, 2 AST, 1 STL, 1-2 FG, 0-1 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, 1 +/-

Garbage time minutes in the fourth quarter. He showed some good leadership out there in the fourth as you could see him talking to the youngsters a lot out there. He got on the board with less than a minute in the game and lost his shoe in the process of the floater.

C
U. Chomche05 MIN, 2 PTS, 1 REB, 0 AST, 0 STL, 1-1 FG, 0-0 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, -4 +/-

Garbage time minutes in the fourth. A nice push shot right away after entering the game and played some good defence on Tristan Thompson which forced a miss at the rim. That’s pretty much it.

C
Darko Rajakovic

Lost the coaches challenge but he showed trust in Scottie as that was his call to go for the appeal. Lost his best player out there (Quickley) early on so you can’t blame Darko too much tonight. Would’ve been nice to see D.J. Carton out there but we’re only on game 1 of 82.

Things We Saw

  1. How about the throwback jerseys? The Raptors wasted no time showing off their 30th-anniversary jerseys. At least the Raptors looked good out there in an ugly blowout.
  2. A great start to the game by the Raptors which cooled off at the end of the first as the Cavs finished on a 13-5 run to take the lead.
  3. Bad game from the Raptors bigs. Poor paint defence led to 68 paint points for the Cavs. Big game for Jarett Allen (14 points) and Evan Mobley (25 points).
  4. Very sloppy second quarter that was filled with bad transition defence and unforced turnovers that saw the Raptors down 20 at the half. That was the beginning of the end for Toronto.