It’s criminal to schedule an East Coast team on the West Coast the night the clocks go forward an hour. However if you stayed up, it turned out to be one of the better Raptor games this season.
For those who turned off the TV during the first half, can’t blame you. The Raptors missed 13 of their first 14 shots and the classic early Darko Rajakovic timeouts did little to stop the bleeding. It only took four minutes for a double digit deficit to form. Deandre Ayton sometimes gets clowned for his “Dominayton” nickname (and hideous back tattoo to match), but he really did live up to the hype with 30 points and 19 rebounds. Portland had 15 second chance points in the opening half alone, thanks to Ayton. The Blazers led by 21 before a furious Raptor rally sparked a wild fourth quarter.
A well deserved shoutout to Dalano Banton. He’s playing real consistent minutes for the first time in his career due to the litany of Blazer injuries. Banton has taken full advantage of the opportunity with a career-high 30 points against Houston the night before and 25 more vs his old squad.
In Banton’s first two seasons with Toronto, he was capable of pushing the pace and leading a fast break, but was a negative in a half court offence. His outside shooting and overall feel of running a team needed work. Banton has clearly made strides in that department. He made five threes, even showing off some creation off the dribble. A couple of those treys were back breaking for the Raptors, who were closing in quick during the third quarter.
I don’t know the moment where rookie Scoot Henderson pissed off Immanuel Quickley, but it led to the Raptors making this a game. IQ had four points in the first half off 1-6 shooting. He got going in the third with 10 and engaged in a personal battle with this season’s third overall pick along the way.
For the non lip readers: Quickley said “too f***ing little” to Henderson, who funny enough is listed a bit bigger than IQ. Quickley finished with a season-high 29 points.
It’s been tracked, and asked directly to Darko. Why doesn’t Chris Boucher play?
The answer was so the Raptors can take a look at other options, in a year dedicated to development. Boucher didn’t do anything wrong in particular, and proved so with 11 points and eight boards against Phoenix on Thursday. It was only Boucher’s second appearance in seven games.
He got the nod again, playing over Ochai Agbaji because Ayton was controlling the glass. The bigger lineup of Kelly Olynyk and Boucher helped neutralize the boards in the second half. Boucher played over 31 minutes, the most he’s logged all season. He had 16 points, eight rebounds, three blocks, two threes (including the 300th of his career), and one hell of a play in the dying seconds to send this game to overtime.
Boucher looked like he suffered a very untimely injury on the play, but just happened to bang knees. He proceeded to walk if off and stay in the game. No way Boucher would volunteer to come off the court.
Boucher was asked about his inconsistent playing time postgame.
First of all, Portland nearly won in regulation anyway, despite Boucher’s dramatic tip in.
The game ended as ugly as it started for Toronto. Some questionable shots and bad offensive execution. The Raptors shot 1-6 in the extra frame and didn’t score until 30 seconds left, when Portland had once again built a double digit lead. Jalen McDaniels was on the court instead of Gradey for a portion of the overtime period because he did have a season-high 10 rebounds, but that didn’t help things offensively. Ayton got an alley-oop seconds into OT, and another one to end the game. Banton also played a huge role in the Blazers surging ahead for good, finishing at the rim and knocking down a dagger three.
Up Next: Mile High City against the defending champion Denver Nuggets on Monday. They’ve been ramping it up lately, chasing the one seed in the West. Horrendous time to play them without Jakob Poeltl, who the Raptors are now 2-12 without.
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