 | Raptors | 103 | Final Box Score | 123 | Lakers |  |
 A | O. Agbaji33 MIN, 16 PTS, 6 REB, 1 AST, 0 STL, 5-7 FG, 4-5 3FG, 2-2 FT, 1 BLK, 2 TO, -11 +/- His drives are very bouncy, and his inside-hand finishes are consistent. Just as importantly, the shot might just be real? It’s hard to overstate how much he’s improved as a Raptor as compared to last season. He tossed in his first jumper from above the break, which is a very nice diversification of his 3-point diet. Then hit a relocation triple to start the second quarter. He is just flat-out good, over and over again for Toronto. | ||||||||
 C- | R. Barrett36 MIN, 18 PTS, 7 REB, 4 AST, 0 STL, 5-15 FG, 1-7 3FG, 7-9 FT, 0 BLK, 4 TO, -24 +/- His defensive rebounding was a big boost — some of his grabs were definitely going to the Lakers if he hadn’t fought for them. He was off from deep, and he was wide open on a bunch of them. He remains just so devastating in transition, but he was somewhat off in the half court. A lot of his attempts were pushed up the floor into the midrange, and he didn’t connect on many of those. The defence didn’t pop either. | ||||||||
 B- | J. Pöltl31 MIN, 14 PTS, 10 REB, 4 AST, 1 STL, 7-12 FG, 0-0 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, -4 +/- Toronto is lost without him on the offensive end. He doesn’t just grease the wheels — he is the wheels. He was running delay, saw Austin Reaves on him, and just backed him down all the way to the rim for a layup. Then hit a push shot from the free throw line on the next possession. Even if he was in tough trying to stop Anthony Davis on the other end, the offense was fun. Even though he was outgunned trying to rebound everything, he did a great job tipping loose rebounds to teammates when he couldn’t get both paws on it. Somehow hit both AD and LeBron in the face? | ||||||||
 B+ | G. Dick33 MIN, 14 PTS, 1 REB, 3 AST, 0 STL, 5-10 FG, 2-3 3FG, 2-2 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, -12 +/- He’s getting much more polished in the short midrange, even over the short period of this season. Very smooth floater off glass for his first points (before missing a dunk). The constant cutting, eventual catching, pump-fake-then-driving, and finally drifting finishing? Yeah, that’s the good stuff. The better stuff? The triples started flowing in the second half, hitting two in less than a minute. He had some creative passes, too, even if they didn’t lead to assists. Didn’t get the touches in the second half. | ||||||||
 D | I. Quickley27 MIN, 12 PTS, 1 REB, 4 AST, 0 STL, 4-15 FG, 1-4 3FG, 3-3 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, -21 +/- He still picks up his dribble in the middle of the floor when facing no digs or pressure beyond his own man. That’s not something great point guards do. Was still passing up good catch-and-shoot looks, too. He killed offensive flow at points, just stopping movement and overdribbling. It’s not even the numbers that were the problem, it was his poor fit with Toronto’s offensive process. He did hit a floater out of Toronto’s Spain leak set, but that points to where he was at his best in this one — as a secondary attacker rather than a primary initiator (like Gradey). Obviously it’s his first back-to-back in a long, long time, so I’m willing to give some grace (it’s not an F). But this was a bad one. | ||||||||
 B- | D. Mitchell19 MIN, 2 PTS, 4 REB, 5 AST, 0 STL, 1-5 FG, 0-3 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, -7 +/- The offence was clunky to start, which is sometimes going to be the case when his triples don’t fall. He dribbled out of bounds trying to make something happen from a standstill. Shook loose after his first stint, driving more fluidly and passing his teammates into advantages. Small ones, but it’s something. | ||||||||
 A | C. Boucher20 MIN, 18 PTS, 5 REB, 3 AST, 1 STL, 6-9 FG, 2-4 3FG, 4-5 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, -7 +/- The man simply wants to put the ball in the basket. And on this team? It’s working quite nicely. Drilled his triples. But just when I think I know what he’s doing, he calls for a post-up against a small, gets the ball, and immediately finds Barrett cutting baseline for the layup. The man’s an onion (he’s got layers). Weird flop call on him. | ||||||||
 C+ | J. Battle13 MIN, 0 PTS, 3 REB, 1 AST, 0 STL, 0-1 FG, 0-1 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 2 TO, -1 +/- He rebounds very well for a stationary shooter, and even though he’s not a lockdown defender or anything, that really helps. | ||||||||
 C+ | B. Fernando11 MIN, 4 PTS, 0 REB, 0 AST, 0 STL, 2-2 FG, 0-0 3FG, 0-0 FT, 1 BLK, 0 TO, -10 +/- He had a terrific stretch against the Clippers last night, his best as a Raptor, and he showed off a nifty, Jak-ian, pivot-reverse-pivot lay for his first bucket. That was pretty much the high water mark. | ||||||||
 Inc | J. Mogbo08 MIN, 3 PTS, 3 REB, 0 AST, 0 STL, 1-2 FG, 0-0 3FG, 1-1 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, -6 +/- Wasn’t his game. Maybe his most prominent moment was a defensive three in the key? With Boucher hot and Fernando coming off his best game, Mogbo saw his role dwindle. | ||||||||
 Inc | J. Shead09 MIN, 2 PTS, 0 REB, 1 AST, 0 STL, 1-4 FG, 0-2 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 3 TO, 3 +/- Popped a guy in the head on his drive, and exited shortly after. Hardly played. | ||||||||
 C | Darko Rajakovic The Raptors have to fit Quickley into the offensive system with less friction. Get him dribbling under pressure in practice, whatever it takes. But he has so much skill, and it should mesh so beautifully with what Toronto is trying to manufacture. But in this one, it didn’t fit. That’s the most important component of this game. Win or lose, the team has to be better with its best players in the game than with them on the bench. Rajakovic has some work to do there. | ||||||||
Things We Saw
- Quickley looked to distribute early. Found a dime on a possession that saw something like five flare screens for Quickley, and he eventually passed up a triple to drive, then finding Agbaji for 3. I’d rather he just shoot his 3 initially, but it turned out perfectly, so I shouldn’t complain. But it foreshadowed what became a problem as the game aged; he isn’t finding the spots for himself, and the spots for his teammates, with fluidity. He’s taking too long to decide, which kills possessions no matter what choice he makes.
- Anthony Davis just annihilated Toronto before he left injured. He has for a while. But no one was equipped to offer resistance, on either end. He finished everything on offence and swatted everything on defence. Or just spooked the Raptors away from even attempting shots. There aren’t really any ‘players like Anthony Davis,’ but Toronto needs to have more and better answers against bigger threats.
- Quickley and Barrett both had very limited games, creating and converting less than the Raptors can expect. And yet Toronto led for the majority of the game before falling apart midway through the third. I suppose you could see this game as a glass-half-full contest. Boucher and Agbaji gave great pop from down the hierarchy. But the best players couldn’t punch with LA’s best players. That’s life.
- Toronto just couldn’t stop straight-line drives. Reaves and James especially were just blowing past the ball defence, and there’s no scheme that can solve that. Dick, Barrett, and others just have to be better. Tired legs, to be fair.
