Written by: Mateo Orrantia
Edited by: Lauren Iafrate
Weird game from the Raptors tonight. They bucked their early-season habit of starting slow in exchange for a 36-point first quarter, but then allowed the Kings to win every subsequent quarter. Siakam seemed to have solved his foul trouble but was targeted by the Kings defense late and gave up crucial turnovers. Lowry kept up his hot start and led the team in scoring, but had as many turnovers as assists and was a team-worst -6 on the night. Nick Nurse made some brilliant decisions, like switching OG onto De’Aaron Fox and riding Serge Ibaka’s hot hand—but has somehow still not won a single coaches challenge. The Raptors made up for these individual oddities through a scoring-by-committee approach: 6 players finished the game in double digits, with 3 scoring more than 20 points for the first time this year.
Poor late-game execution caused this game to be much closer than it probably should have been, but nonetheless the Raptors were able to remain undefeated at home prior to heading out West for what is sure to be a trying road trip. Over the next 9 days, the Raptors play 5 games against a slew of Western Conference heavyweights in a stretch of games that will give us a good indicator of whether the defending champs are contenders or pretenders.
1st Star: Pascal Siakam
We had better get used to this. This didn’t even feel like a particularly good performance from Spicy P, but he still led the Raptors in rebounds and steals, and was a game high +9. Rico Hines—the man that helped turn Pascal into a monster over the past two summers—could only watch helplessly from the sidelines as P diced up his team’s defense to the tune of 23 points and 8/10 shooting from inside. While many worried that his All-NBA level defense might slip under a higher offensive workload, Siakam’s Defensive Rating of 111.4 was the lowest of all Raptors that played meaningful minutes tonight. This wasn’t just an anomaly: his season-long defensive rating of 101.2 is second on the team behind Gasol. He was able to overcome his recent foul trouble in this one too, which is promising going forward.
2nd Star: OG Anunoby
At this rate, OG is making a case for Most Improved Player and Defensive Player of The Year Awards. If his interviews are any indication, he’d also be a serious contestant for Shortest Acceptance Speech Of All Time if he won. His offense is a lot like his interviews: simple and to the point. All of his points came from the restricted area or outside the three-point line, where he continues to be ruthlessly effective. He only missed one shot from outside en route to a ridiculous 79.5 TS%, second only to the walking statistical anomaly that is Matt Thomas (who had a TS% of 103.1%). OG’s continued development as an offensive weapon makes the Raptors exponentially harder to guard and lines him up for a big paycheck this summer when he is extension-eligible.
3rd Star: Serge Ibaka
Serge Ibaka’s stank face is easily top 10 in the league, and any game where he pulls it out automatically puts him in contention for a place on this list. After an earth-shattering dunk over Buddy Hield that led to a Kings timeout, Ma Fuzzy Chef trotted back to the Raptors’ bench looking like the most dangerous man on the planet. He played like it in this game, too. The Raptors rode his hot hand, using him in 34.6% of possessions where he was on the floor, and the decision paid off. 10 of his 21points came in the 4th quarter, and were key in holding off a late game surge from the Kings. Ma Fuzzy continues to be one of the best backup bigs in the league.
Commentaires