Quick React: Nets 113, Raptors 130

Scottie started his night with an attempted alley-oop pass to teammate Ochai Agbaji, but he threw the pass so perfectly that Agbaji didn’t even have to touch the pass, which ended up going down as a 3-point field goal. Barnes had a phenomenal first half as his efficiency was up, and his turnovers weren’t terrible like they have been lately. The best part of Scottie’s game tonight was his tough shot-making. He made at least two really tightly contested shots that not a lot of players can make.

Ochai got the night started for the Raptors on the fast break as he was able to throw down a thunderous jam. Agbaji had a good active start but was unable to finish a beautiful alley-oop dish from teammate Gradey Dick mid-way through the second quarter. That miss kind of killed his early momentum, but he finished the half on a positive with a beautiful drive and dish to Gradey, who made a corner three. Agbaji was playing hounding defence on Cam Johnson all night long and did a great job limiting his shots.

Poeltl had a pretty quiet first half until late in the second quarter as he came alive right before the end of the first half. His glasswork was phenomenal the whole time, which is his biggest quality as a player. Poeltl barely missed a double-double with one rebound. He was much more involved on the offensive end in the second half and had a reliable consistent night.

Gradey made his return after a very brief hiatus of one game against the Boston Celtics last night on New Year’s Eve. Dick had a great first half where he was mixing in jump shots and also attacking the rim, whatever the defence gave him. Dick’s playmaking was good tonight too and he could have easily had two more assists had his teammates finished the easy looks that Gradey set them up with. The best part of his game tonight was his pass anticipation as he was picking off passes all night long.

Immanuel Quickley has the Raptors a new year present with his return after playing in just his fourth game of the season tonight. He was finally able to get on the scoring board with his first points coming with the team’s last shot of the first quarter. Quick’s shot may have been rusty at times, but his decision-making and playmaking didn’t miss a beat.

Shead had an ok first half as his playmaking was nice and he made a beautiful pull-up mid-range jumper late in the second quarter. Shead had some poor turnovers tonight and struggled from the free throw line but outside of that had a relatively positive game.

Boucher made an unbelievable fading three for his first and only points late in the first half with the shot clock running low. I thought Chris had an ok first shift, but he wasn’t given a second opportunity to build on his night after being dropped from the rotation.

Walter’s shot selection was much better tonight as most, if not all of his shots were good clean looks. Ja’Kobe also flashed some good playmaking today which was a welcomed sight. Like Boucher, Walter wasn’t given many chances to improve his night in the second half.

Davion Mitchell had a rough first shift as he picked up three fouls early on and was given a bogus call on the third foul to be fair, but it led to him arguing with the ref and picking up a technical foul. The three fouls in two minutes ended his first half abruptly due to the foul trouble. Davion’s four fouls were his leading stat by far, so Mitchell had another forgettable night at the office.

Kelly had a very pedestrian first half as he only took one shot and didn’t do much else outside of that, but he made the shot so that was fine. Olynyk brought some solid defensive energy in the second half though and provided a nice touch pass that set up Scottie Barnes, who got good low post positioning. He started very passive in the first half but provided some great minutes late in the third quarter and early in the fourth.

Garbage time minutes.

Garbage time minutes.

Garbage time minutes.

Darko’s timeout in the second quarter woke Toronto up as Brooklyn was nearing a double-digit lead. The Raptors responded with a 19-7 run midway in the quarter to take the lead. We also saw a successful challenge from Darko who was struggling quite a bit on challenges early on in the season but his calls have been good lately. Toronto was leaking a bit of oil midway through the fourth quarter, causing Darko to call a timeout again and they came out with a beautiful drawn-up play that found a wide-open Gradey corner three. Darko also leaned heavily into the starting unit and even cut the rotation down to nine as he dropped Chris Boucher completely in the second half which ended up being a great call as Toronto finally snapped their 11-game losing streak.