Quick Reaction: Raptors 89, Suns 129

Stayed glued to Booker forcing a miss, then hustled out in transition and was rewarded with a big dunk. Went on to miss his next six shots. The speed at which he processes reads on offence and his finishing at the rim still leaves little to be desired. Did hustle for some offensive rebounds and play some staunch point-of-attack defence though.

Took the KD assignment and started off strong, staying with him and making quality contests, holding him to five first-half points. A trend is developing here as Barnes held the “easy money sniper” to 15 points on 5-of-15 shooting when they met last month. Showed some aggression at times, driving through the porous Phoenix defence, but would’ve liked to see it more often. His defensive effort waned as the game went on – particularly in help and on rotations – and he made some easily avoidable turnovers.

He continued to show good touch on his longer-range push-shots from a step inside the free throw line. Like what Castleton provides as a depth big but it’s also easy to see his faults when he’s filling the steady-stepping shoes of Jakob Poeltl. Despite his size and instincts often putting him in position to rebound well and occasionally block shots, Castleton often fails to do the work to get in the way and deter drives earlier, resulting in frequent looks at the rim.

Had a little bit of tough first shift getting lost in rotation a couple times and missing some shots. Battle has been cold lately, but you can’t keep a good man or a good shooter down for too long. Battle has given some great interviews this season and revealed that he has an outstanding mindset, emphasizing focusing on what you can control and staying present. A broken nose, some missed shots, these are minor distractions from being the best shooter in this rookie class while also working on improving elsewhere.

Worked early to create some good looks for shooters; made a good skip pass out of the pick n’ roll to an open Barnes in the corner. As soon as the Suns gave him an inch of space off a Castleton screen Quickley didn’t hesitate to let it rip. Great to see from one of the best pull-up 3-point shooters in the world. He continued to let it fly and while they weren’t going down. It doesn’t matter! Dion Waiters mindset baby. Also fouled Devin Booker while closing out twice. Maybe the Coby White incident was an accident?

Lawson launched both shots and his body at the rim – as he typically does – to mixed results. He airballed a corner 3 long, then splashed one. He managed to finish at the hoop or draw free throws, but was also way off as he occasionally looked overpowered by some of the physicality he encountered en route to the rim.

Shead’s creation juice really jumps out sometimes as he touched the paint a couple times early and dimed his teammates. After that it was a tough rest of the night for the Houston product as he either got beat or lost on defence, missed shots, or generally blended in. It’s been a great rookie season from the 45th pick but tonight was an exception.

He’s aggressive, really looks to get his own whenever he can. Took it right at Plumlee when he ceded ground for a post-up and spinning hook shot. But it also isn’t to a fault. Next possession he posted up KD and found Lawson in the far corner for a triple. Then later he found Battle above the break out of a double down low. The intuitive help defence he’s shown sometimes in past games wasn’t there today.

Only good things to say about the NBPA VP and local labour king. His ability to remain game ready at age 38 despite hardly playing up until recently is damn impressive.

Not much to be said about rotations at this point of the season considering the circumstances. But at least when blatantly putting out minute-losing lineups there does at times still appear to be a focus on putting players in situations that will benefit their development. At times.