Quick Reaction: Raptors 98, Mavericks 102

The workload offensively and defensively is staggering. Thought he was tremendous on the defensive end, and while he wasn’t magical on offense, he pressed on into a paint that was packed and he teased free throws, buckets, and assists out of it.

Hard to overstate how destructive his offense was during this game. Was a significant deterrent to his own teammates, cutting into driving lanes and mucking everything up. Defensively, he’s still absolutely essential to their rebounding and rim contests – and that was no different tonight.

Thought he did a great job. Didn’t hit enough of his spot-ups, but as far as decision making on offense he was nearly picture perfect. The Mavericks defense buckled every time he attacked a closeout, and some of the handoff/screen plays bore fruit. Wasn’t much of a Doncic deterrent but who was? HIs coverage tonight on the defensive end was strong.

Giving him the Luka assignment for as many possessions as he had it was a bit tough to swallow, but maybe that was to prioritize the likes of Anunoby’s and Siakam’s ability to help and rotate. Could hardly create anything off the bounce tonight, but that middy at the end was really nice.

Didn’t bother to contest Luka’s big 3 at the end, and had a similar sort of ‘check out’ after Butler blew by him last game. Odd, but you have to figure there’s some reason for it.

Credit to him for churning the Mavericks offense and creating 12 buckets for his teammates off the pass, but the jumper has to come back around. He is the sacrificial lamb of the Raptors total lack of spacing and you can really tell. The legs might be depleted after all these minutes. He’s been missing a lot lately. Brunson got the step on him quite a few times tonight.

He was everything you needed him to be. He took a shot at the end that he had every right to – don’t waste clock, he hit 3’s earlier in the game, and he was open. His length and compete level is really felt on some of these defensive possessions and the overwhelming gaffes that used to plague his rotations aren’t really there anymore. No one on the roster can bring what he does.

A couple unforgivable fouls in this one, but he hit one of his threes, he took the Luka check for a few possessions and he grabbed some rebounds. Relative to what’s expected of him? He did his thing, but it was a muted performance.

Until you get a quote from a player saying they can’t keep doing this, it’s tough to say Nurse’s rotation is pushing too hard. But, VanVleet’s shooting seems like the end result of these minutes. Liked a lot of the calls for OG offense that have been a staple this month. I don’t know how you solve Luka.