Quick Reaction: Wizards 118, Raptors 117

A complete roller coaster of a game for RJ tonight as he struggled out of the gate, but slowly started settling into the first quarter as it progressed. His struggles continued in the second quarter and early in the third but he picked it up yet again near the end of the game.

Aggressive and good first quarter. It was downhill from there as the bricks started coming in but the aggressiveness earned him quite a lot of trips to the free throw line, which is where most of his damage came from tonight, all be it mostly in the first quarter. That wasn’t the worst of it as he had a horrendus fourth quarter as everything was just going against him.

Poeltl had a phenomenal first quarter as he was making winning plays all quarter long, mostly off ball as he won two 50/50 balls for Toronto as well as setting nice screens on offence and good defensive activity. Phenomenal work in the high post as he was finding open teammates from his spot all night long. His shot making was great in the fourth quarter and he was easily the player of the game tonight for Toronto.

Back to back starts for the Canadian after Ja’Kobe Walter got hurt last game and it was a back to back stinker of a performance too. Showed some good confidence in the second quarter after missing an open layup and following it up with a rebound that led to a three ball. That was pretty much the biggest positive for him tonight.

Started in place of Immanuel Quickley on a second night of a back to back. Defensive energy was alright, nothing spectacular and he had surprisingly good shot creating for himself tonight which we don’t see too often. Also a phenomenal bucket at the end of the game but he was just a bit late with the release.

Good scoring output in the first, especially on a fast break put back follow up on a missed layup from RJ Barrett. Also great defensive energy from the jump. Showed some great dribble penetration tonight where he was getting to the rim with relative ease. So far Rhoden looks like he could be a part of the future as he’s been impressive.

A super passive game from Castleton until later on in the second half. He made a nice shot in the low post with a defender draped all over him during the third quarter. His first points got the ball rolling for him as he followed it up with two third chance oppurtunities at cruical moments and he closed out the game quite well.

Robinson was blowing up opposing plays all first half, mainly at the rim. Defence fell off a bit in the second half but he made some nice passes that led to a foul on Rhoden and a three ball for Battle. His good performance was really slipping away until the closing minutes where Robinson’s shot came alive.

Solid defence and good work crashing the offensive glass early on. Had a nice cut to the rim in the second quarter that led to a layup which is good to see from your shooters as a lot of 3 & D players are glued to the three-point line these days. He finished the night off with a few more three pointers and put in one of his best performances of the season.

Interesting double bigs looks that weren’t really working early in the game and these lineups always contained Castleton. Successful challenge in the second quarter and the Raptors are now 17-20 on the season with the challenges. Darko’s made it very apparent on where he stands in the tank over the last couple games as these closing lineups filled with bench players tell you all you need to know.