Quick Reaction: Raptors 106, Heat 96

Poeltl was moving better out there and had some really nice screening to create open looks for the Raptors all night. He struggled to keep his hands on the ball on a couple of offensive rebounds but also had some nice push shots in the middle of the Heat zone.

Things started out really slow for Barnes in this one, he missed a couple of shots early and didn’t score his first bucket until the 8 minute mark of the second. At half he only had 5 points, it was looking rough. The second half was a complete 180, especially in the fourth as he scored 6 points, had two incredible offensive boards to go along with two blocks and a steal. His performance on both ends propelled the Raptors to a victory and had me yelling at my screen. Excellent close to what was looking like a subpar outing for Barnes.

Quickley was a primary driver of the fourth quarter run by Toronto to get up by 10 and close it out. He had a steal on Bam and was able to wall up on Jaquez after he had bullied Walter on the previous possession. Had a couple of really nice drives, one of which created an open corner three for Ingram which he knocked down. Quickley hit three threes of his own and was firing them up at will, a welcome sign.

A rested Ingram is an efficient Ingram. He opened the game with 12 points on 87% true shooting. His three point shot making tonight was incredible, hitting five of his seven attempts. For a stretch in the second half he was forcing things a tiny bit which led to his efficiency faltering slightly but a couple of clutch buckets helped the Raptors to a win. Still late on a couple of decisions when driving and getting doubled but I also saw improvement in those areas. Overall an excellent performance from Ingram nearly getting his third straight thirty point game.

I was impressed with Agbaji’s ability to get in the paint early but other than a kick out assist to Quickley he didn’t do much with his paint touches. He did hit a corner three early in the second half off a Barnes behind the back pass but wasn’t overly impactful tonight.

Mamu is another one that I was ready to write off in the first half. He’s been slumping lately so I was excited to see him hit a three early. Unfortunately he missed a couple after that for an underwhelming first half. But in the second half, and fourth quarter particularly he was a big spark for Toronto. He had a nice layup, hit a three off a Walter kick out and finished an and-one off a pick n’ roll with Shead. A really really great late game from Mamu.

Gradey was really incredible in the first half, he had an offensive board and a couple of steals in the first quarter that led to easy buckets. He closed the quarter with a corner three off a Shead drive and kick. He hit another three late in the third to take the lead but really didn’t get much burn late. A little disappointing given his early efforts but I thought he played really well in the minutes he had.

Jamal Shead was a +27 tonight, need I say more? Okay… I will. He did a really great job getting into the paint and either finishing or kicking it out for good looks. He hit a huge three in the fourth quarter to push the lead to 10. When things were looking frantic in the closing two minutes he checked in and slowed things down, hitting a push shot off a Poeltl pick n’ roll. Excellent performance from Shead, really great game management from the bench point guard.

Really tough outing for Walter, he started by drawing an offensive foul but then followed it up with a three that didn’t even hit the rim. Yikes. His only highlight was a baseline cut where he found Mamu on a kick out. After that he got bullied in the post by Jaquez, not a great game for Walter.

This sequence tells you everything about CMB tonight: He got beat off the dribble by Bam before absolutely decimating the shot from behind, next possession he has a beautiful wraparound pass to Mamu for an easy bucket, next possession a straight line cut and drive for the bucket, then a steal and finally he bailed Ingram out of the double team with the excellent baseline cut. He was active defensively and everywhere on the court for Toronto. I wish he would have closed the game for the Raptors.

As the Raptors play more competitive games, Darko has to figure out the best times to make substitutions, call timeouts and challenge calls. He’s one of the best at drawing up plays out of timeouts so I would like to see him use them more often to stop runs. A 14-0 run should never happen. I also hoped that the break would give the coaching staff the time to figure out some ways to create offense without Ingram and rework the clutch time offense, which was ugly until Shead checked in. Cutting CMB and Gradey’s minutes after excellent first half performances is an interesting choice as well, either way the Raptors won so I can’t be too mad about that.