Quick Reaction: Raptors 114, Magic 113

No points until the second quarter for Scottie, and outside of a travel, the rest of his game was perfect to start, mostly playmaking and defence. After a scoreless first quarter, he ended the first half on fire after making multiple shots. This was a classic Scottie game which we haven’t seen in a while as his playmaking and rebounding kind of took a hit but his effort tonight was elite.

Fast start from RJ tonight and he kept it going the whole game in a consistent pace. A complete game from the first minute to the last, and surprisingly he made a huge play down the stretch on the defensive end when he blocked a Bacnhero post up shot.

Solid first half, involved a decent amount on the offensive end and had quite a lot of hookups with Scottie Barnes all night long. A very surprising technical foul midway in the third quarter when the officials were checking for a flagrant foul against the Magic. Even without the minute restriction, his minutes would’ve probably been similar as he was in foul trouble all night long.

Walter started in the place of an injured Gradey Dick. Heavily involved in the first quarter with some mixed results. There were two passes that went through his hands that would’ve led to an open three and an open shot at the rim. He was aggressive all game long though as he won a good amount of trips to the line. There were more negatives than positives from Walter’s performance tonight, I’d say, but he made the game winner on a crazy shot so that’s what matters the most.

Involved in the first 2 buckets for Toronto. Assisted the first bucket of the game to RJ Barrett and added a floater for the second bucket of the game. He was aggressive with the drives tonight, which we don’t see too often from Quickley these days, and the free throw trips reflected his aggressiveness tonight.

Mogbo brought good energy from the get go. His defence was superb and he couldn’t get the offence going yet again tonight with a few bad misses at the rim. The rookie was ruled out for the game right at the beginning of the second half after he got elbowed in the face by Paolo Banchero late in the first half.

Poor first half filled with turnovers. Defence picked up in the second half as the only place to go for his performance was up. He set up a cutting Shead with a nice bounce pass late in the third quarter and he finished the game due to Jakob Poeltl’s minutes restriction. Also his lone made shot came in crunch time, which was a nice putback after a RJ airball.

Decent defensive energy at the start of his first shift. After a solid start, he was trending south with a few bad turnovers, but he finished the first half with a nice and one double clutch finish at the rim. That re-energized his game to start the second half as his defensive energy had a second wind to it and he also contributed on the offensive end.

A great block from the back on a Franz Wagner three ball that led to a fastbreak layup on the other end for him, which were his first two plays of the game. He had great defensive energy the whole night. Also a big fan of his shot form as it looks nice and smooth. Quite aggressive on defence at times as he picked up a good amount of fouls. Great finishing minutes with two clutch shots at the end to help take the game home.

Rhoden had consistent defensive energy all night long and he had two great finishes at the rim tonight which were both contested heavily, and he was draped with contact. A good first impression from the newest Raptor.

A restricted rotation due to injuries. A nice play called out of a timeout from Darko midway through the third quarter led to a Poeltl dunk off a Scottie and Yak pick and roll. He won a challenge in the third quarter, also, which involved Orlando Robinson who looked like he didn’t want a challenge but Quickley was able to persuade him which was a good call. He also finished the game off with more bench players on the court than starters due to the bench giving the team great minutes.