Quick Reaction: Raptors 109, Wizards 105

Led with the defense. Rotated to the bucket for contests, jumped guards above the break, and overall contained penetration. He’s been so good on that end lately. On offense, the Wizards were going to surrender a mismatch to he or Scottie and they chose the latter. P backed off and let the rookie carve out space all game, and even hit the kill button on his iso in the last minute to allow a clear out post up for Scottie. Cool acknowledgement of the rookie’s awesome game. A nice cozy 21 & 4.

The Wizards really knew how to play him on the post-ups. Leave the baseline and jump him if he takes it. A lot of fruitless possessions and certainly not his best, but his defense was phenomenal throughout and especially on Beal towards the end + a nice putback in the closing seconds.

What more could you want? Had the softest touch available as many of his buckets kissed every part of the rim. He bullied every undermatched defender that came his way and hunted the rim with reckless abandon. A couple standout isolations, the pull-up in the 4th really stood out. But honestly, this scoring performance was mostly accomplished by great recognition as a cutter and his incredible skill as a finisher. Made himself available to every entry pass.

Not as many blitzes as past games, so we saw a more traditional 21-22 version of VanVleet. Did a fantastic job of stonewalling Dinwiddie’s drives and forced him to shoot triples (which he shot well, but thems the breaks). Clutch three to make up for a really poor decision the possession before. Continues to make tons of positive reads as the lead ball handler. A consummate professional and All-Star having a so-so game.

Basically, you’re looking for him to hit the 3’s that no one has been hitting over the past chunk of games – and he did. The off the bounce stuff wasn’t successful and he was the victim of a few back cuts at the start of the game, but this is the first step back on an injured ankle. It’ll come around.

Once again, essential to the very fiber of this team. Right on time rotations and contests, long and disruptive in his court coverage, and canned two triples. He’s giving so much lately.

As always, the disparity between the offense and defense was on display. He was a huge part of the Raptors best defensive run of the game, and he also complicated quite a few offensive possessions. When he’s the backstop this team wins quite a few minutes, especially if he’s paired with his buddy, Boucher.

Going through the motions, but the team isn’t even involving him in actions really, so an incomplete. A playstyle has taken hold and it might take the All-Star break for some of these guys to come back into the fold like they used to.

Got a blow in.

He’s playing the winning players. Said Fred & Pascal love the minutes they’ve been getting lately, so this just seems to be a coach and his team understanding what that requires right now. He says he’s trusting the players, so I’m trusting him. Might’ve liked a couple more set plays against the Washington zone, but that’s being picky.