Quick Reaction: Pistons 117, Raptors 105

Tried to work off the bounce on his first possession and turned it over. If he’s going to be a rotation player on a winning team, those are the moments he’ll need to do damage. He draws closeouts. He’ll need to turn those into advantages with the dribble. After that, he mostly settled for shooting rather than dribbling, and that worked pretty pretty pretty well. Had a good defensive stand getting a deflection as he got back cut, too. But he got cooked guarding Dennis Schroder in crunch time.

Kind of a funny game. High highs (literally high, in that he was well above the rim for dunks) and low lows. Big dunk in transition to start. He tried to press up on Ausar Thompson and got cooked defensively. Gotta learn that matchup. A quiet stretch, but he had an even bigger dunk in the second as he caught a baseline pass from Quickley and punched with his left over a few defenders. But at the same time, he still drove into crowds and fell over without having a plan. More lows than highs in this one.

He’s so ready to anchor a good team. He just does so much so well. It was a quiet game for him, but a good indication of his ability to improve everything around him. Just a big eraser early on. Turned Detroit’s offence into a blank page. Walled off the rim, even gathering a steal with his quick hands. He was Toronto’s only guy capable of keeping Duren from the rim. The offensive rebounding was very meaningful, especially when Toronto’s offence ground to a halt for long stretches. He had some sloppy moments, especially with some unforced bobbled passes for turnovers, but overall it was his usual professional output.

Probably Toronto’s best player in this one. His mid-range pull-up is very consistent. Hit one to finish a probing, slow drive for his first bucket. Very in control. The jumper is really starting to click, and he very quietly led Toronto in scoring in the first quarter. Plays really well off Shead, forming up around his drives, making himself accessible for Shead, especially on the two-hand skips on his hang dribble; the two have great chemistry on both ends. Hit a late-clock circus pull-up in the third. Defensively, he was very aggressive and impressive on the ball.

The efficiency wasn’t there. But his process was mostly very good. Super aggressive without Barnes in the lineup. Maybe too aggressive? Attempting triples with abandon early, and he was creating off the bounce, too. He hit a pull-up triple from 30 feet with 20 seconds on the shot-clock for his first bucket. But after that, he wasn’t hitting his frequent pull-ups, and the offence looked a little more sustainable when Quickley was on the bench. He was much better when he was looking for Poeltl in the pick and roll, as those bounce passes into the pocket were money. He caught fire in the third and early in the fourth, as he turned some made triples into open floaters.

He had an insane trio of moments in the second quarter — a help block on Detroit’s big above the rim, then an offensive rebound, then dribbled out to hit a fadeaway 3-pointer. Whew. Broadly, I like that he doesn’t change his game, doesn’t deter, even though he’s far from a guaranteed NBA guy. He doesn’t turn down shots, still pushes in transition and looks for his own points. Score-first G-League wings don’t always remain that way in the league, and it’s a good thing that he does. Especially in this game with Toronto lacking guys who wanted to call their own numbers. Now, look, it didn’t end up in makes. But he had good process in this one. Huge chasedown block in transition.

He is just so much more comfortable in Toronto’s offensive system than he was when he first became a Raptor. On his first touch, he saw an elbow post look, faked a handoff, and then saw a back-cutting Rhoden for the dunk. A fine pass, but an even better understanding of how the system creates advantages. He can still telegraph passes and commit turnovers, but he fits better on that end than I thought he would. Defensively, he hung with Sasser on a switch and then committed a cheapo foul to ruin his good work. Those fouls really kept him off the floor.

Changed Toronto’s intensity upon entering the game. The defence met Detroit higher, deterred their actions more potently, and generally did better work. It’s crazy that a rookie has that type of impact on a team’s style. Early on, he wasn’t able to dart past guys into the lane and had to settle for very difficult fadeaway floaters. But he was able to find his way around that by getting off the ball early on drives, which created open looks for Walter. And then in the fourth he found plenty of success in the paint with his speed.

Moves, cuts, dunks. He didn’t play a lot, and unlike Lawson he blends into the background at times when he is on the floor. He missed a much-needed 3-pointer early in the fourth that could have stopped a Detroit run. But at the same time he is a really fluid mover in transition. Had a very clean eurostep for an easy 2 in the fourth.

The jumper finally, finally, started hitting. First a middy, then a 3-pointer. Even had a Kobe assist to Orlando Robinson right after (missed a layup, but drew two defenders, opening up the offensive glass for a teammate).

I liked his move of throwing Quickley, Shead, and Walter together early in the third quarter. Toronto was having a lot of trouble with the size and aggression of Detroit, so the trio of guards let Toronto play a little faster with a little more creation juice. Toronto found its triples so much easier, and Walter and Quickley connected on some good looks. The idea was solid. That being said, honestly, the Raptors were just less talented, less athletic, and less motivated. Tough to pin much on the coach in a situation like that.