Raptors 905 cruise past Motor City in the third quarter
Here’s what made this dominant win so impressive.
The 905 had no help from their parent team (no two-ways or assignment players), and went eight deep against the Cruise who had three on assignment from the fringes of the East’s best, Detroit Pistons: Wendell Moore Jr., Chaz Lanier, and Bobi Klintman. They rolled 11-deep.
In the third quarter, however, what the 905 did to the Cruise in yesterday’s matinee game was what Proof did to Eminem in the movie titled after the infamous Motor City street.
“Imma murder this man!” Proof yelled to a roaring crowd in 8 Mile. After a slew of personal disses, he ended his surgical slaughter with a “You don’t belong, you’re a tourist/So put your hockey sticks and baseball bat away/Cause this here Detroit, 16 Mile Road is that away, that away.” Proof continued to taunt Eminem to get the hell out of The Shelter.
‘This is Sauga. The 401 West is that away, that away’ may not quite have the same ring, but the 905 dismantled the Cruise with similar surgical precision, effectively choking their scoring efforts in the third quarter.
Motor City had 11 points with more turnovers (eight) than they had in the first half. Brice Williams missed a wide-open corner 3 at the end, going 0-for-3 from downtown after going 2-for-4 in the first half. The Cruise only made one of their 10 3s attempted. All three assignment players combined for a grand total of zero points. They were faker than a psychic with caller ID.
The 905 came into the third quarter down five and dropped 35 points. Tyson Degenhart completed two and-ones, including this miracle floater as he fell into the baseline.
After a quiet 18 minutes the day before, TD had a 24-point game performance in 36 minutes. David Roddy, who scored 26 points the day before, had nine of his 14 points in the third, with an exclamation two-handed dunk to end the quarter.
In the fourth, the 905 continued to hunt Canadian Matthew Moncrieffe, forcing him to commit his fourth foul in 15 minutes of play. Roddy hunted him in the third and Reese followed suit in the fourth. 905 head coach Drew Jones reminded his players, screaming, “Sense of urgency! Sense of urgency!” from the sidelines with 8:51 left to fight against complacency. He took a timeout with nearly four minutes left when Hoggard fell asleep on a defensive transition play.
What a dominant 905 win over the 313 without any help from the 416 or 647.
Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
Zulfi has sung Julian Reese’s praises before and we saw why. After struggling against Moses Brown (along with the rest of the 905) the day before, Reese finished with 20 points and 17 rebounds (seven offensive boards).
What was most impressive was how quickly he improved over the course of the game. In the first quarter, he got blocked by Makhi Mitchell and was knocked off his position. He attempted a bounce pass from the high post – as he’s done successfully many times – to TD, but turned the ball over instead.
Reese (and Jarkel Joiner) had eight points in the following frame. The Cruise went on a 8-0 run with Lanier hitting two 3s to build a nine-point lead, but the big man played a big role in damage control.
He got a lot of touches in the second quarter – he had the second-highest usage rate next to Joiner. In the post, he drew a foul from Symir Torrence, but both drew a tech as the two had some choice words for each other. “They just talking! It’s just basketball!” Coach Jones retorted. Despite getting scored on by Drew Peterson earlier, Reese trapped a guard (Lanier) in the corner, which forced Klintman to shoot a desperation 3 to beat the shot clock (he air balled it). Reese was all smiles when he drew another defensive foul, this time from O’mar Stanley. Reese hit the free throw to cut the Cruise lead to three points, near the end of the first half.
Jones was all smiles, too, when singing his praises about the rookie. “He’s doing a great job of embracing that physicality,” he said. “I think that’s who he is, and I think the next stage for him is mentally and emotionally being able to fight through some of the tough calls or when teams are beating him up because of his size.”
Up Next
The Raptors 905 have a six-game road trip with a prolonged All-star break in the middle. The 905 play two games each against the Cleveland Charge, Windy City Bulls, College Park Skyhawks before returning to Paramount Fine Foods Centre to play the Greensboro Swarm back-to-back. Alijah Martin and A.J. Lawson will be heading to the G League Up Next Game.
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