Quick Reaction: Raptors 126, Cavaliers 132

RJ got his night going with a layup off a deep outlet pass from Scottie Barnes that was tipped by Evan Mobley and should’ve been picked off in all honesty. Barrett made a beautiful outlet pass to Scottie Barnes who missed a reverse layup midway through the second quarter. Star-J lost his temper late in the second quarter after thinking he got fouled on a drive that he missed badly, it led to a technical foul and gave the Cavaliers a late lead in the half which the Raptors were ahead of for most of the time. He had a decent first half but missed a bunny off of a nice Poeltl feed at the tail end of the second quarter but ultimately made a tough three-pointer to beat the buzzer to end the half. He wasn’t done with the technical foul fiasco as RJ was seen talking to the refs after the second quarter was done trying to get his point across to the refs. Barrett kept the three-point momentum going by making his first shot of the second half with a corner three. RJ had another consistent scoring night but did give up a few bad turnovers in a solid outing.

Scottie showed some leadership traits tonight as before the tipoff he was seen talking to a struggling Gradey Dick and Immanuel Quickley, most likely giving them words of encouragement. He started active on the glass and had good defensive work. He was also active on the offensive end as he was able to end the first quarter with six points on five shots taken. Barnes started his second half with a nice spinning hook shot. Scottie was great tonight outside of a few missed free throws, a couple of bad turnovers and his shot late in the game where he stopped his momentum with under a minute to go.

Poeltl started off with a missed push shot and looked lost on an early defensive possession that led to a free Jarrett Allen dunk. He also got tied up by Ty Jerome midway through the first quarter which is the cardinal sin of a big man as he brought the ball down low after a rebound. That caused a jump ball which he was able to win without a contest from the Cavaliers guard. Poeltl had a very rough half until the four-minute mark in the second quarter as he was able to score five points, find a cutting Immanuel Quickley for a nice assist and won the Raptors an extra offensive possession with a nice rebound. Poeltl kept the good momentum going right away in the second half, cleaning up an Immanuel Quickley miss with a tip-in and added another four points before an early Cavalier timeout. Yak has had a great season from the free throw line for his standards but struggled tonight and ultimately he was the embodiment of the famous sports quote “It’s not how you start that’s important, but how well you finish!”

Gradey who’s been struggling got off on the right foot as he made an early driving layup on his first shot attempt from an IQ feed. He got absolutely cooked by Darius Garland off the dribble on defence early in the first quarter and had to concede a foul due to slipping on Garland’s crossover. Dick started 3/3 from the field before getting swatted at the rim by Allen that had no shot. Gradey missed another shot before the half but started the third quarter with a free dunk in transition midway through the quarter. Dick was having a great season but has struggled to find the consistent court time he was used to early on and also is having a tough time finding shots with a healthy BBQ. It was his best game over the last four outings though so we’ll take that as a victory.

Quickley got started off just like last night with a transition feed that opened up the scoring for the Raptors. After making the first bucket for Toronto, Quick ended up missing his next four shots before finding an easy layup late in the second quarter. Scottie handled a lot of the on ball duties and Quickley was corner camping quite a lot tonight and I wonder if that was by design or if IQ lost confidence through out the game. After having his best game since coming back from injury Quickley struggled tonight and had his worst game since returning, but it was still a decent effort.

Just like last night, Shead was the first man off the bench and he came in early again, so it seems like Quickley’s minutes restriction isn’t gone just yet. The backup point guard was able to start his night with a three-ball late in the first quarter. He ended the half with six points as he was able to cash in another triple. Shead started off his second half with a nice cut that found him a layup and was able to knock down yet another three in the ensuing possession. Shead was on a heater tonight and it took him six shots to finally miss. He had a career-high of 15 points but the best part of his game tonight was his ball control as he didn’t attempt any risky passes tonight.

Boucher’s hot garbage time minutes and Bruce Brown’s rest day earned him an opportunity to enter back into the rotation tonight. He started off with a corner there which gave the Raptors a two-point lead and caused a Kenny Atkinson timeout. Boucher ended the quarter with 11 points on 4/4 shooting and a buzzer-beating block on Georges Niang. His energy was great tonight as he was crashing the offensive glass early, winning the Raptors two extra possessions. He had a point to prove tonight and made it clear that he should be a member of the rotation. He kept the hot hand going in the second half with a corner three and a dunk off a nice cut and feed by Jamal Shead which led to yet another Kenny Atkinson timeout after Toronto captured a double-digit lead midway through the third quarter. Boucher was so amazing tonight that he was given closing time minutes.

Walter was able to score on his second shot of the night with a corner three, courtesy of Davion Mitchell. Tonight, he surpassed his points total from last night in the second quarter. He had a nice back cut midway through the second quarter that earned him a trip to the free throw line, where he was able to go one for two. Another forgetabble performance by Toronto’s first round pick.

Kelly O had a quiet first shift that ended with one assist but to be fair he was only out there for three minutes and that was all we saw from the Canadian big in the first half. We saw Olynyk back out in the third quarter for another brief three minutes and he was getting booed all night by Cavs fans for his antics way back when Kelly was a Celtic. It seems kind of unfair to give Olynyk an F but he did play meaningful minutes therefore a grade has to be given out.

“Off night” was also given another opportunity in the rotation after going missing for the past couple of games and started off with a great closeout on Caris LeVert in his first possession since checking in. Mitchell had good energy early on as he was able to save a loose ball from going out of bounds and did a good job of finding open teammates. Davion got his first two points with a nice blow-by layup midway through the second quarter. Mitchell had a fairly quiet second half until the fourth quarter where he won a huge offensive rebound for Toronto very early on in the fourth quarter, which they were able to convert on with a tough post mid-range shot from Scottie B and hooked up with Scottie again after a nice dribble penetration dish that won the franchise player a trip to the foul line. Davion played some amazing defence midway through the fourth quarter, where he was caught in no man’s land between two Cavs players, with no help and he was able to make Evan Mobley overthink if he should swing the ball or shoot the three. It was a good performance to get Darko thinking on whether he wants Mitchell back in the rotation.

Big fan of elevating Chris Boucher back into the rotation tonight and it paid off big time. Davion Mitchell also got another chance and gave the Raptors some good minutes, mostly in the first half. He also cut Kelly Olynyk’s minutes big time tonight which was a good decision as he has been struggling as of late. He made some good calls tonight but unfortunately, the Raptors just came up a bit short tonight.