Quick Reaction: Raptors 119, Pelicans 93

Every time he has a shift that isn’t as effective as has been his custom this season, I keep expecting it to be the start of a downturn. He has just been so damn good this year, after being so damn bad last year. But no, he remained amazing. It took him most of the first quarter, but he got on the board in a big way with a triple then a block from behind that sparked a transition dunk for Barnes the other way. The he went crazy, hitting everything, layups, triples (more triples). Everything. Really strong defence, too, with a fancy steal on the ball.

Running point guard with the starters to get Barnes some small advantages on the catch, which I liked. Barrett was more involved, in more active ways, than I thought he was against Detroit. He had a stretch where he sort of spaced out and missed some jumpers, but he made a couple to end the first half and then got back to the rim in the second. He settled in and threw some really chain-moving passes to corner shooters. A near triple-double.

No one was spoon-feeding him points early, as the Pelicans were making it very clear they were going to force him to roll into bodies, not space. That still really helped shooters find extra space, even if it didn’t put any numbers in his box score. Defensively, he let a few things get past him early before really locking in the second quarter onward. Stars get their numbers no matter what the defence does. Poeltl is not a star, so it’s not his fault that his numbers shifted in this one. That was what the defence was designed to do.

The shots didn’t fall, really from anywhere, and even though he was doing damage at the rim early in the first, he drifted into settling for his jumper after that. They were good shots, mostly, but he missed them. He looked a little lost after that in the half-court, holding the ball, throwing really poor passes that ended up in turnovers, getting blocked and having his handle stripped, and not really fitting into Toronto’s system. But the defence was strong, and Toronto dominated his minutes. He does enough stuff in every area that he can still play winning basketball in games like this, despite it not being his best.

Starter! Double-double! Lob-thrower! His first touch was a corner triple as he drifted away from the ball. Clean touch clean shot. Only moments later, he got lost in a pick and roll and threw a needless turnover, only to steal it back immediately. He also reverse finished a no-look lob from Scottie that Walter had no business even catching and threw a nice laydown to Poeltl on the drive — it wasn’t just shooting (which was actually off, even if he drifted to plenty of great looks). Furthermore, the defence was real, as he recovered in tight spaces well and generally stayed in front, even if his momentum put him in tough spots for a moment. And he rebounded great, doing well to jitter into empty spaces to help grab the ball as his teammates blocked out. Just a near-perfect game for him.

He didn’t really do anything that showed up in the box score, but the defence was immaculate as always. I really didn’t mind Walter starting over him, and it did juice the offensive spacing. And Mitchell still gave a ton in the bench role that will be his usual spot when (if) everyone gets healthy.

The shots are wild, but that’s kind of the point with him. When they don’t fall, that’s kind of just life. That’s the thing about Boucher — what he does shows up in the box score, for better or for worse.

A shooter! A real one. Maybe Toronto’s only real knockdown shooter in the rotation right now (non-Ochai division). His defence is very much holding up these days too, as he’s big and in the right spots and uses his hands well. He fights to get back into the play if he does get beat. Call me crazy, but he might be the next rookie to get a start. Career high in points, obviously.

A quiet game for him. The defence wasn’t as impacting. At one point, CJ McCollum backed him up for the iso, and I slapped the floor of my living room in anticipation that McCollum was about to learn who Mogbo was. Then Mogbo gave up an easy drive for the layup. But like everyone, he settled in to contribute to a lockdown performance from the entire team.

His defence is crazy. He chooses spots to gamble so well, and he moves his momentum wildly fast. When he fouls less, his ability to use his hands will be even more devastating. As it is, he really can jolt energy into the team when he’s not fouling. He even tossed in a 3 in the fourth for good measure.

He had a crazy tip finish on a bad lob from Battle that was thrown much too high. Fernando is a very good athlete.

Garbage time.

I love the concept of starting Ja’Kobe Walter to get extra spacing and juice for the offence, especially after the start of the Pistons game. It helped that Walter played great, too. The answer to New Orleans’ defensive approach was to get triples up, and to Rajakovic’s credit, the Raptors stuck to it even though they didn’t fall early.