Quick Reaction: Raptors 122, Hawks 119

Barnes had a really solid start to the game where he had a very balanced showing in all areas of the game. After a good start defensively and as a facilitator, those two departments fell off, mostly as a facilitator but his shot-making was pretty consistent all night long. Scottie made a huge pull-up jumper late in the game that looked like a three, but it went down as a two until it was reversed midway through a Raptor possession late in the fourth quarter. That was one of the most bizarre things I’ve ever seen and the continued possession after the announcement led to a shot clock violation for Toronto. Like RJ, he had huge shots in the clutch.

RJ had a slow start where he left two shots at the rim early on. He also threw a couple of questionable turnovers which he has been making a habit lately. We saw RJ run to the locker room midway through the second quarter where it wasn’t apparent what happened to him. Luckily he was back out there just a few moments later. Barrett started the second half much better with a three-ball and a steal that led to an assist on the fast break. Star-J had a miserable first half but played amazingly in the second half, mostly in crunch time.

Poeltl had a good start to the game but the most surprising part was that he hooked up with Gradey Dick for a nice alley-oop. The craziest part was that Poeltl was the one throwing the lob and not receiving it. He also provided great rim protection with a steal down low and a block right out the gate. We saw some very unexpected explosiveness from Yak late in the first half when he blew by Onyeka Okongwu and finished a dunk that led to a three-point play. Lightning struck twice tonight as Jakob was able to blow by Okongwu again for a finish at the rim early in the third quarter. Poeltl had a rough stretch of two turnovers midway through the third quarter that came in consecutive possessions. After the two turnovers, Poeltl’s productivity dropped a bit. Nonetheless, he had a great game and made two huge free throws to give Toronto a three-point lead with just under three seconds to go.

Gradey was energized from the get-go as he started the night with the first five points for Toronto. Just a few minutes later he picked off an Atlanta pass and took it down the court to finish an impressive reverse layup. Dick checked out of the first quarter four for four from the field with 11 points. He cooled off in the second quarter missing both his shots and throwing a few bad turnovers. Gradey was able to get back in the right direction with four quick points early in the third quarter. It wasn’t just points too, as he came down with a few contested rebounds and made a beautiful drive and dish to hook up Bruce Brown down low. Dick has been labelled as a weak defender but over the last few games he’s shown good activity on the defensive end.

Mitchell tried his luck with an early shot which we don’t see too often and he wasn’t able to knock it down but he had superb ball control, vision and played good defence on Trae Young. His ball control, along with the team really fell in the second quarter as off night threw two turnovers of the night in the quarter and one of them was a really hard pass that only had a chance if he threw it perfectly to RJ Barrett. Davion showed some nice dribble moves to get to the rim midway through the third quarter to score his first points of the night. Off night has shown good moves lately but he’s very reluctant to look for his own shot which can be frustrating at times. He had Young locked up for most of the night but he finally got free late in the game to almost steal the game for Atlanta, but Davion still had a great game.

Brown provided an instant spark off the bench with good defensive work that led to a steal and he was able to knock down his first shot just moments after getting Toronto a stop. Brown ended the first quarter with seven points, which was four points behind Gradey Dick’s 11. He had some huge quarters over the last couple of games that really carried his performances but tonight he was locked in all night long and is quite possibly playing his best basketball as a Raptor lately.

Pedestrian first half. Shead has been shooting the three-ball well lately and tonight he only took one and missed. He played some late-game minutes in the fourth quarter which was surprising as he didn’t perform well tonight.

Walter has been giving very minimal impact lately and tonight he picked up three quick fouls in three minutes which cut his first shift short. He saw just four more minutes in the second half and wasn’t able to provide anything yet again.

Olynyk got credited with an early steal late in the first quarter but everyone in the building and the broadcast team knew he got away with one as everyone but the officials heard the slap apparently. He did a great job of hooking up with Bruce Brown a few possessions later as he’s starting to own the free throw line on the half-court offence, which is where most of his dimes come from. Kelly O is not known for his defence, but over the last couple of games, tonight included he has shown some great rim protection. Olynyk started the second half not looking the same before knocking down a huge three-pointer to give Toronto a two-possession lead and had a successful two-for-two trip to the free-throw line in the following possession. We got very late news midway through the fourth quarter that Olynyk was done for the night due to a leg tightness. Hopefully, he’s ok for Saturday night as he’s been playing great ball lately.

Boucher started off his night with a badly missed three-pointer but his first points came early in the second quarter where he got some serious hang time on a putback dunk. That got him going as he was able to cut to the rim and finish a Kelly O feed. Montreal’s finest has shown the tendency to take over quarters lately and tonight he took over the second quarter with 11 total points. After a phenomenal second quarter, Boucher re-entered the game at the beginning of the fourth quarter and was active very early on with two shots (made one) and a defensive rebound. He was able to pitch in six points before finally checking out for the night and provided great offence off the bench tonight.

Decent rotations, but a questionable call in the first quarter as Gradey Dick was one of the first (if not the first) starter that came out of the game after his hot 11-point start. We got deja-vu in the second half as Dick started to gain momentum, but he was pulled early yet again. It seems that no matter what Gradey is the first starter off the floor (unless we see foul trouble.) It was also surprising to see Shead out there late in the game when he wasn’t providing much tonight but luckily it didn’t end up costing the Raptors.