Quick Reaction: Trail Blazers 118, Raptors 121

Poeltl won the opening tip but got completely bodied by Donovan Clingan on defence early in the game, picked up a quick foul, and had a terrible inbound pass that led to a free two points for the Blazers. The second quarter started with an instant foul on Poeltl on the defensive end, but he quickly made up for it with a good pass deflection and defensive rebound. Got his offence going on a nice layup at the rim midway through the third quarter and followed it up with a free dunk just a few possessions later before checking out for the quarter. Nine of his points came in the second half, and the foul trouble plagued him all night long, but Poeltl was much better after a rough start to the game.

Sloppy start for Barnes with a missed free throw and throwing a pass out of bounds when he tried to hook up Ingram with a pass that should’ve led to a finish at the rim. After a slow first quarter, he started off with a three-ball and did a ton of damage down low to get his game back on track. After a bad offensive foul to open up the third quarter, he quickly made up for it the following offensive possession with a nice fadeaway post jumper. He had a huge block late in the fourth and sealed the win, and after winning defensive player of the month, Scottie said, “Don’t forget about my offence tonight,” on a night where he shot the three ball amazingly and got to the rim whenever he wanted. Outside of a first quarter that wasn’t terrible, it was a consistent performance, but the turnovers mean he just misses the A+.

Opened up with an immediate three-ball on Toronto’s first possession when he had a catch-and-shoot opportunity from BI3. Followed up with another three-ball and three nice floaters, and one more three-pointer to start the game 6/6 from the field. The first field goal miss came on his seventh shot with just over six minutes to go in the second quarter when he had a layup blocked by Toumani Camara. The second half was even better as the efficiency stuck around, and his playmaking really picked up as almost all of the assists came in the second half. Also did a good job of protecting the rock, rule number one of being a point guard.

Ingram got going with a beautiful reverse layup and followed it up with a miss and score off his own rebound. After a nine-point first quarter, he slowed down with a four-point second quarter, but he finished the half with a great play that drew a shooting foul with just 0.1 seconds to go in the half. The Notorious BI3 headed to the locker room late in the third quarter with an ankle sprain and was seen back on the bench with a stretch band early in the fourth quarter on his foot. Nothing was going his way in the fourth quarter as a couple of passes went through his fingertips and a soft offensive foul call, but he made a nice layup off a Shead feed late in the fourth and finished a big dunk to give Toronto a four-point lead with less than 20 seconds to go. Great start, but didn’t keep it consistent tonight, which might’ve been affected by the injury he picked up mid-game.

Once again got the start for the injured RJ Barrett, and he started the game with his typical defensive energy when he flew in for an early defensive rebound and a nice steal that led to a successful Raptors fast break. Walter saw some clean looks in the second quarter but was unable to capitalize on them. After a poor offensive half in the first, he got going with a triple early into the third quarter, which has made it now eight straight games with a made three for the sophomore. His fourth quarter was pretty quiet, and he was replaced by Jamal Shead to close out the game. Nonetheless less he played good defence tonight.

Sandro continues to show his sneaky athleticism as he ran the floor with great pace late in the first quarter to get his first two points of the night. He had a big rebound midway through the second quarter, where he had to hustle hard, and finished at the rim following the rebound to end a big Portland run that got them dangerously close to Toronto yet again. A couple of really good tap rebounds by Mamu tonight, when he couldn’t fully reel in the rebounds by himself, won Toronto the ball at least three times. Mamu is becoming quite the fast break player as he had a beautiful and one throw down late in the third quarter. We’ve seen much better box scores from Mamu, but the energy was good.

Got his first shift of the game in the second quarter and made a nice steal that led to an assist thanks to a Scottie B dunk in transition. Followed by a missed three-ball, defensive foul, missed reverse layup and then a block on the following shot. 1/19 from three now on the season as he missed another three late in the third, but got an instant layup one possession later on the fast break. Thought the performance in New York could get Agbaji’s confidence going, but another rough outing for Ochai.

Dick missed his first shot with a corner three, but got his first two points quickly afterwards and was able to add another free throw later on in the first quarter. He made a beautiful spin and fire shot in the midrange early in the second quarter. He had a bad start to the fourth quarter when he got blocked by Jerami Grant on a three-pointer and was called for a defensive foul in the following possession. A few minutes later, he made a nice pull-up three, though and then followed it up with a transition three-pointer to turn the ship around in the fourth. A total roller coaster of a game for Gradey at times, but it was one of his best performances in a while.

Came into the game and instantly made a play on defence where Toronto was really struggling prior to a time-out at 32-23 in favour of Portland around the 4-minute mark in the first quarter. He got his hands on another steal early in the second quarter and made a great outlet pass to feed a Dick dunk. Followed up with a “vintage Kyle Lowry possession” according to Jack Armstrong, as he had another steal and a hoop plus foul finish at the rim. His second half was not as good, but his defensive intensity earned him closing minutes in the fourth quarter, and he drew a big offensive foul when guarding Deni Avdija in a two-point game when there was less than a minute to go. This was the ultimate basketball is played on two ends of the court performance as the offence wasn’t great, but the defence was superb.

CMB once again was great on the glass tonight and actually got his first two points off a putback. CMB was also quite active in the fast break, as a good chunk of his points came in transition when he was filling the middle lane in transition well with his rim running, and the defensive energy was great again.

Some great set plays to open up both halves as Ingram was used as a decoy and Quickley was using his speed to run around and get open for a catch and shoot three, which worked both times. He also micromanaged the end of the first half well when he was playing offence-defence with the Dick and Agbaji substitutions, where both Dick possessions on offence late in the half led to points, and Agbaji’s defensive possession led to a stop (shoutout to our own Louis Zatzman for pointing this one out on his Twitter.)