Quick Reaction: Raptors 117, Wizards 138

Good start on both ends of the glass, especially as a trailer in the fast break when he followed up an Agbaji miss and added two threes in the opening quarter. Second quarter was just as good as he kept crashing the glass, draining threes and even had a beautiful chase down block in transition on CJ McCollum. Mamukelashvili’s second half didn’t feel as impactful. Still, you can’t really blame him for that, as he was playing out of his mind in that opening half and was one of the most consistent Raptors tonight, doing everything in his power to will a win in Washington and rebounded way better than usual, but it wasn’t meant to be.

Rough early start as he slipped and fell on the defensive end, followed it up with a turnover on the offensive end and missed two more three pointers a few minutes later. He followed it up with a much better second quarter thought when he started to push the pace as a ball handler and start to bully defenders down low. He showed off his playmaking tonight with some really nice passes that only an elite playmaker could make, as he fit some passes into tight windows. Scottie went to the locker room holding his left hip in the third quarter, but was fortunately back out there for the fourth quarter. It felt like that aggressive second quarter of pushing the pace and bullying defenders was only a one-quarter deal tonight.

Good offensive start from Quickley, who got his night going with a two-for-two trip at the line, followed up with a nice three-pointer off of a Mamukelashvili second-chance effort. He kept the good shooting from deep going in the second quarter with another three, and opened the second half with another three and followed it up with a nice attack to the basket, which earned him a successful trip to the free throw line. That got a huge quarter going for Quickle,y who made shot after shot and willed a big Raptors comeback after entering the half down 11, but he started cooling off right at the end of the third with two missed floaters, and that halted all of his offensive momentum in the fourth quarter.

An inconsistent start offensively from BI3, especially beyond the arc. He had a really nice pump fake and jumped into the defender’s body to bury an and one mid-range play. He followed it up with a three-ball and another mid-range bait foul. That got his offence going for the rest of the game, but his deep ball wasn’t on tonight, and he forced a few bad shots beyond the arc. He had a nice Pascal Siakam-like spin move that led to a nice finish at the rim midway through the third quarter, followed by a block on the defensive end shortly after. Perhaps the fourth quarter could’ve been his time to force way more shots due to how bad the Raptors were offensively, only scoring 17 in the quarter, but it felt like he didn’t take enough shots in the final frame.

Nice baseline step-back jumper to start the night for Toronto’s second bucket of the night. He came back alive in the second quarter with two nice finishes at the rim and played decent defence tonight. He’s been playing better in the starting lineup and had some really nice off-ball cuts to the rim after struggling big time to get his season going, but the three-point shot was missing again tonight, which is a big part of his game.

Missed his lone shot in the opening quarter but played good defence, coming up with a steal, a block and three rebounds. After a nice first quarter, he was kind of quiet the rest of the way, but he didn’t force shots and was making good decisions, in my opinion. Dick surprisingly played way fewer minutes in the second half after a solid first half, despite the shot not falling outside of garbage time.

A quiet first shift, but came out shooting the three well in the second quarter with two big shots from beyond the arc. He made a beautiful pass over the top of a Wizards defender late in the third quarter when he found Brandon Ingram deep in the paint that led to a successful layup. Defence wasn’t as good as it usually is, and his hot start cooled off after two instant makes to round out a rough night.

Good start beyond the arc from Walter, who gave Toronto two threes in a losing quarter. He was super streaky, and his buckets came in bunches as he made two more shots down low pretty simultaneously in the third quarter, made a nice cut which led to him getting hacked by Marvin Bagley III for a successful trip to the foul line and followed it up with a and one post shot fadeaway in the mid range. That third quarter had Raptors fans believe that a comeback was possible, but the offence collectively died out very quickly.

Battle got some short runs in both halves, but it was warranted as he only had one three-ball opportunity that he missed on and wasn’t that great defensively tonight. Another missed opportunity in a shorthanded Raptors night, and was also one of the five members of the Raptors’ garbage time unit.

Surprising early minutes in the first quarter due to injuries to Collin Murray-Boyles and Jakob Poeltl. He had a horrible shift as on three different occasions he failed to catch the ball, which led to it going out of bounds and giving the Wizards three free possessions. That was enough for Darko to bench him for the rest of the game until garbage time, and this was a big opportunity for Mogbo, who hasn’t been seeing many minutes that weren’t capitalized on.

A surprising appearance for Lawson as he was initially ruled out on assignment with the Raptors 905 on the injury report prior to Collin Murray-Boyles being ruled out for the game due to illness. He only checked into the game in the fourth quarter as Mogbo and Battle struggled to make an impact, so he was the next man up. Outside of a nice pass to an open Shead three that didn’t fall, there wasn’t much to write about other than the fact that he was also a part of the garbage time lineup.

Garbage time.

He tried to shake up the rotations on a shorthanded night without RJ Barrett, Jakob Poeltl and Collin Murray-Boyles, plus G-Leaguers, as Mogbo had a horrible first quarter and Battle got an opportunity in the second half after a quiet first half, but it was short stints both times. In a rough fourth quarter like that, though, he should at least give Garrett Temple a look in meaningful minutes, as even if he is at the end of his career, maybe he could’ve given you a spark that was much needed.