Raptors 905 return home, cruise past Gold for skid-busting win
The Raptors 905 (11-5) returned to the friendly confines of Mississauga on Thursday and picked up a much-needed win, cruising past the Grand Rapids Gold (6-11) 137-109.
A.J. Lawson led the charge, finishing with a team-high 29 points on 10-of-16 shooting as the 905 snapped a four-game skid, all on the road. The Brampton, Ont. native may have led the way, but was one of seven Raptors to finish in double-digits for scoring. Not far behind Lawson was David Roddy, who chipped in 22 points, eight rebounds and seven assists while shooting 8-of-14 from the field.
Jarkel Joiner and Alijah Martin added 19 and 18 points, respectively, while Olivier Sarr finished with 13 to round out the starters. Tyson Degenhart and Julian Reese racked up 14 and 10 points apiece off the bench.
Although the Raptors 905 walked away with a resounding 28-point win, it wasn’t without a bit of first-half intrigue.
The dinos took a modest eight-point lead into the second quarter, despite going up by as many as 16 points in the opening frame, but saw the tides turn rather abruptly when the offence sputtered — in response to the Gold’s zone defence (sound familiar?) — to the tune of 4.5 minutes without a basket.
Grand Rapids went on a 14-0 run during that 905 scoreless stretch until Joiner stopped the bleeding with a contested, pull-up triple. Still, the Gold outscored the 905 by 14 points in the quarter (37-23), flipping that 36-24 deficit into a 61-57 lead.
Losing focus defensively — while failing to keep up offensively — had been a theme of the Raptors 905’s recent skid, and undoubtedly reared its ugly head in the first half. Before losing four consecutive games, the 905 were allowing the fewest points per contest in the regular season (100.9) but had dropped to 12th in the G League during their skid (110.0), while seeing a similar drop from second to 10th in opponent field goal percentage.
As for the Gold’s first-half outburst on Thursday, James Akinjo led the way, with his 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting at halftime en route to a game-high 34 points off the bench. He spearheaded a Gold squad that had four double-digit scorers at halftime and shot 68.4 per cent from the field in the second quarter.
Thankfully for the Raptors 905 and their fans, they found their form after the break, thanks to a dominant third quarter in which they resembled the defensive powerhouse from earlier in the year.
Grand Rapids was held to just 19 points in the frame on 47 per cent shooting. All the while, the 905 forced the Gold into seven turnovers (for nine points) as they broke the game wide open thanks to an 18-2 run and a 42-point showing in the third.
That must’ve been quite the half-time pep talk from Raptors 905 head coach Drew Jones.
Meanwhile, Joiner led the way in the turnaround as he chipped in 10 points in the quarter, including a pair of triples that were part of five threes made by the 905 in the third versus the Gold’s zero.
The dinos took a 99-80 lead into the fourth quarter and ballooned their advantage as they won the final frame by nine points (38-29) — finishing plus-32 in the second half. The wiry guard finished as a game-high plus-28 as he also chipped in seven assists and a steal.
Lawson put the cherry on top when he blew by two defenders at the 3:34 mark and dropped in a layup that set a new season-high in scoring for the 905. It was a School Day game at the Paramount Fine Foods Centre, and the junior dinos were clearly motivated to put on a show for the 4,701 screaming kids in attendance, as it was just the third time through 2025-26 that the team had scored 130 points or more. They’re now 8-1 at home during the regular season.
Reese’s pieces
I’ve sung Julian Reese’s praises plenty before, but his understated game continues to make an impact for the 905, especially on the glass.
On the heels of a 10-point, 12-rebound and four-block effort against the Osceola Magic, the rookie forward finished with 10 points, nine rebounds and a steal on Thursday. Seven of his boards came on the offensive end, leading a plus-11 edge (18-7) in that category for the 905 as they put up a staggering 33 second-chance points (plus-24).
All of which couldn’t have come at a better time, as the 905 were struggling mightily in winning that battle of late. They went from giving up the seventh-fewest offensive rebounds on the season to allowing the sixth-most during their four-game losing streak,
The 22-year-old has now put up 10 points in three consecutive contests, while his activity on both ends of the floor has been notable.
His statement play of the game came in the third quarter when Reese was left on an island with Gold forward Cole Hawkins and showed his ability to move and defend on the perimeter by poking the ball loose and forcing a shot-clock violation.
Reese may not be a seven-footer (6-foot-9, 230 pounds), but if the NBA Raptors are going to cycle through 10-day contracts to fill their final roster spot through the closing stretch of the season, he’s deserving of a look for his motor alone.
Up next
The Raptors 905 return to action on Saturday in a rematch against the Gold as part of a three-game homestand.
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