Quickley leads Raptors’ hot-shooting night in win vs. Warriors
Immanuel Quickley spearheaded a hot shooting night for the Toronto Raptors in what ended up as a 145-127 win over the Golden State Warriors.
The lead guard tied a career-high, while setting a new top mark in a Raptors uniform with 40 points on 11-of-13 shooting from the field and a season-best 7-of-8 on threes. Quickley also chipped in 10 assists, two steals and went 11-of-11 from the free throw line.
His hot shooting led a Raptors team that went 21-of-34 from distance, matching their season-high in made threes that was set all the way back on Oct. 29 in a loss to the Rockets. It was just the second time this year they’d hit 20 or more threes in a game, and in stark contrast to the NBA-worst 26 per cent they’d been shooting from three over the last two weeks.
Behind Quickley was Brandon Ingram, who went 4-of-6 from deep as part of 22 points, and Sandro Mamukelashvili, who went 4-of-4 on threes en route to 14 points and 12 rebounds off the bench.
And while Scottie Barnes missed the one triple he attempted, the star forward shines everywhere else as he finished with 26 points, seven rebounds and 11 assists.
The onslaught of threes started early as the Raptors went 5-of-8 in the opening frame, part of which helped propel an early 10-0 run.
It was Toronto’s leaders who started that effort, as Barnes and Ingram each nailed a pair of mid-range jumpers before Quickley splashed his first two attempts from beyond the arc. The 26-year-old wound up starting the game a scorching 6-of-6 on threes en route to his milestone night.
Underscoring a first quarter that ultimately set the tone in what ended up being a season-best 145-point outing was the Raptors taking advantage of an older Warriors team on the second night of a back-to-back — without Jimmy Butler III, who was lost for the season after tearing his ACL on Monday.
Toronto opened the game with a 13-0 edge on fastbreak points and won that battle 21-5 by the end of the night. The ball zipped — to the tune of a season-high 42 assists on 51 field goals, 13 of which came on 16 makes in the first — as the Raptors played perfectly in line with head coach Darko Rajakovic’s 0.5 offensively philosophy.
The Raptors then ballooned a 41-28 lead after the first 12 minutes all the way to 50-70 by halftime, in part thanks to eight second-quarter points from Mamukelashvili as he started a hot 3-of-3 from the field. He wasn’t the only contributor off the pine, however, as the duo of Jamison Battle and A.J. Lawson won their minutes while in relief for the starters, and most notably, Jonathan Mogbo stepped up for a depleted centre rotation missing Jakob Poeltl and Collin Murray-Boyles.
The sophomore forward only finished with two points but was a team-best plus-12 in the second quarter as he was plenty disruptive on the defensive end — like going up for a two-handed block at one point — and on the glass, as he grabbed four boards in the frame. Mogbo ended up plus-six, leading all Raptors off the bench on Tuesday.
A second unit that outscored the Warriors’ bench 27-16 in the first half, all without Gradey Dick, who was inserted into the starting lineup for just the first time this season. The third-year swingman finished with 10 points on 2-of-5 shooting from deep — not eye-popping stats but a largely positive night (plus-17) that included taking jumpers with confidence while making contributions on both ends of the floor.
The Raptors’ bench winning the battle between second units was both noteworthy, considering Golden State’s reserves are second in the NBA in scoring (averaging over 40 points per game), and also short-lived.
What was a lead that grew as large as 30 points was swiftly cut down back to single digits in the fourth quarter, thanks to the bench duo of Buddy Hield and Jonathan Kuminga. Hield’s outside shooting and Kuminga’s athletic drives to the hoop were causing all kinds of issues for the Raptors, who looked somewhat flat after halftime.
Kuminga went 7-of-9 from the field in the second half, while going 5-of-6 from the line as part of 20 points off the bench. As for Hield, he shot a perfect 6-of-6 from deep in the final 24 minutes (en route to 23 points in the half), including a pair of triples in the fourth that brought the Raptors’ lead down to nine points at the 5:02 mark.
Luckily for Toronto, its sputtering offence found just enough shooting late to stay ahead. Two timely triples from Ingram and then Mamukelashvili in response to Hield’s makes put the Raptors back up by 15 as they held on to improve to 26-19 on the season.
It’s worth noting that the game ended similarly to how it started, with the Raptors leaders, well, leading the way. Ingram, Barnes and Quickley each finished with nine, eight and seven points in the fourth quarter, respectively.
The combination of Ingram’s timely jumpers, Barnes flashing through the paint for high-volume looks and Quickley’s aggressiveness getting to the line (four free throws in the fourth) while using his hot-shooting gravity to make quick reads (five assists) was the rising tide the short-handed Raptors needed to lift their boat to a much-needed win.
A victory that not only snapped a two-game skid but also put an end to the Warriors’ four-game win streak.
The Raptors won’t get much time to celebrate, however, as they return to action on Wednesday to visit the Sacramento Kings (12-32), who’ll also be on the second night of a back-to-back after losing to the Miami Heat.
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