Quick Reaction: Sixers 115, Raptors 116
| Philadelphia 76ers | 115 | Final |
116 | Toronto Raptors |
A+ | C. Murray-Boyles42 MIN, 17 PTS, 15 REB, 3 AST, 3 STL, 7-12 FG, 0-0 3FG, 3-3 FT, 3 BLK, 2 TO, 5 +/- Big numbers, big impact. The rebounding kept Toronto alive in a game that was hugely inefficient for long stretches. He had a game-saving assist to send Toronto to overtime. The defence was insane with monster blocks (and some bad calls took away even more stocks). He’s in the midst of an all-time run for a Raptors’ rookie. | |
A+ | S. Barnes43 MIN, 31 PTS, 7 REB, 8 AST, 0 STL, 10-19 FG, 1-4 3FG, 10-12 FT, 0 BLK, 4 TO, 15 +/- Sublime. He had a game-winning and-1 floater taken away from him due to no continuation, in a real shoutout to Kyle Lowry. But he made his free throw, then missed the next intentionally, to seal it. Broadly, he was Toronto’s only real chance in this one, and he delivered. He was hitting from the midrange for stretches, but he didn’t settle for his jumper after it was dropping. Got to the rim, drew free throws, and threw down an exceptional extension dunk during Toronto’s fourth-quarter comeback. Superstar stuff. | |
B | I. Quickley40 MIN, 20 PTS, 5 REB, 7 AST, 4 STL, 6-22 FG, 2-8 3FG, 6-9 FT, 0 BLK, 2 TO, 13 +/- The efficiency wasn’t there, but Toronto needed him to get extra shots up with so many of the key guns missing. He started slow but dragged Toronto back into it to start the fourth quarter. Look, some of the shots weren’t perfect, with some drifting midrangers, and a poor pull-up triple in transition late in the game that should have been a calmer possession. He also smoked a 3-on-1 transition attempt in overtime that really should have been a pass. But it wasn’t his worst game by any means, and he helped despite the misses. Toronto winning his minutes meant something. | |
Inc | J. Walter5 MIN, 2 PTS, 0 REB, 1 AST, 0 STL, 1-3 FG, 0-2 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, 3 +/- Injured early in the game with a hip pointer. | |
D | S. Mamukelashvili18 MIN, 0 PTS, 1 REB, 2 AST, 1 STL, 0-3 FG, 0-2 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, -17 +/- Strangely wasn’t there for him tonight. That’s life – bench guys don’t usually have it every game of the season. Missed some shots and didn’t do much else on the night. He’ll have it next time. | |
C | O. Agbaji15 MIN, 6 PTS, 6 REB, 1 AST, 0 STL, 3-4 FG, 0-1 3FG, 0-0 FT, 1 BLK, 1 TO, -2 +/- He was initially poor in the third quarter, but he found his way into the game. He didn’t seem to trust his jumper whatsoever, but he put the ball on the floor and somewhat kept offensive possessions moving. The rebounding was quite nice. | |
D | G. Dick11 MIN, 2 PTS, 1 REB, 0 AST, 0 STL, 1-4 FG, 0-1 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, -4 +/- Didn’t have it. Got a few looks that weren’t there and then didn’t see many minutes after that. He wasn’t terrible, but he didn’t give much of anything. Barnes got him a step-into-it transition triple with a screen in front of him, and that was really that shot that, in my mind, could have bought him extra minutes. Missed. | |
A- | J. Shead37 MIN, 22 PTS, 1 REB, 6 AST, 0 STL, 7-15 FG, 2-7 3FG, 6-8 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, -13 +/- He was inefficient as a shooter, and he wasn’t able to contain Tyrese Maxey. Those are tough asks though, and he made up for missed triples with solid 2-point scoring and a boatload of free throws. He also hit a monster triple in overtime to drag Toronto within one, and then he dimed up Murray-Boyles to take the lead moments later. He didn’t win his minutes for most of the game, but he took over in overtime. Closer. | |
B+ | J. Battle15 MIN, 5 PTS, 2 REB, 0 AST, 0 STL, 2-6 FG, 0-2 3FG, 1-3 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, 9 +/- He didn’t hit his triples, but I didn’t hate his minutes on the night. He was part of an offensive unit that actually sparked Toronto’s dead fireplace after a miserable third quarter. He moves and cuts, and his groups usually win their minutes whether he makes his shots or not. It wasn’t perfect, but he was helpful in his short minutes. | |
A | A. Martin30 MIN, 9 PTS, 8 REB, 1 AST, 4 STL, 3-11 FG, 0-3 3FG, 3-4 FT, 2 BLK, 1 TO, -8 +/- Ignore the efficiency. Monster game. His defence changed the game, as his blind doubles really gave Philadelphia fits. He tried to catch a BODY with a dunk in transition. The rebounding was a huge plus, too. It’s going to be really tough taking him out of the rotation when Toronto gets healthy. He’s a guy. | |
A | A. Lawson10 MIN, 2 PTS, 2 REB, 0 AST, 2 STL, 1-4 FG, 0-2 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, 4 +/- Loved his minutes. He got a truly insane whistle on both ends, but that’s life for fringe guys sometimes. And he didn’t let it impact his effort. Flew around the court. Missed his triples, which did really hurt, but the Raptors won his minutes regardless. Honestly, I would have guessed he was a plus-10 without having looked at the box score. His steals were fantastic. Made triples would have pushed this to an A+, but hard to fault him on anything else. | |
A+ | Darko Rajakovic I thought this was a brilliantly coached game. He was searching and searching and searching to find a group that would drag Toronto into the game during the third quarter, and he eventually found a combination that worked and rode it to paydirt. He just found elements that worked. It seemed to be his call that Barnes missed the final free throw on purpose, which brilliantly ended the game and didn’t give Maxey or Edgecombe (terrifying duo already) a chance. Another great thing: Toronto didn’t win this game without both of his decisions on challenges. | |
Things We Saw
- The Raptors were exceptionally frustrated about a seeming whistle differential from one end as compared to the other, but they didn’t let it change their game. That’s extremely professional stuff. The Raptors of last year would have lost this game by a wide margin with that whistle, largely because they would have folded emotionally. Not this group.
- Finding enough points without RJ Barrett, Brandon Ingram, or Jakob Poeltl was a challenge. But a lot of guys stepped into more shots and converted. It wasn’t always pretty, but it was good malleability from the hierarchy. Credit to Shead and Murray-Boyles especially for finding their way with extra shots and converting regardless.
- Maxey and Edgecombe terrify me.
- Alijah Martin, man. A lot of the plugged-in 905 writers (Coty Wiles, Ian Finlayson, Es Baraheni) have talked about him with glowing, lavish praise. It seems deserved. He is the type of up-and-coming talent, who couldn’t quite fit into the rotation, but who projects to be a real part of the future, that the Raptors have lacked for several seasons. Extremely encouraging to see what he’s been able to do with minutes during the last few games. No fear of the moment whatsoever.
Your next read: Our own Samson Folk, diving deeeep into Toronto’s defensive success so far this season.
Toronto has made a rapid turn around from the depths of the league to the upper end of the middle of it. They’ve improved, greatly, on the offensive end of the floor. Even more so than they have defensively, by ranking. Picking the low hanging fruit. Balancing diets. But, it’s a lot more difficult to elevate out of the middle and into the tippity-top than it is to fight to the middle from the bottom. Where to zoom in? Hmm… I can’t imagine looking anywhere else besides the Raptors top-3 defense.
Before we begin, it’s important to remember that the Raptors opened the season as one of the NBA’s worst defenses. They were embodying the catch phrases from training camp and preseason. They were, aside from the Portland Trailblazers — who were at the very forefront of all the ball pressure — the NBA’s number one ball pressure team. They chased and overextended. To quote Bilbo Baggins, they were: “thin, sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread.”
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