Raptors 104 – Utah Jazz 94: All-Star Night
By Brian Boake
The Jazz gave the Raptors all they could handle, but our best players were better than their best, and Toronto’s eleventh straight home win was in the bag.
Despite more of the same ineffectual results from several disappointing players, the Toronto Raptors rode their All-Star backcourt to a victory over the Utah Jazz. Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan were all but unstoppable, combining for a season-high 63 points against the overmatched Jazz guards.
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DeMar has often required a lot of shots, some of them forced, to score his points, but not on this night. He needed a mere 15 attempts to pour in 31, including 9 of 11 from the free-throw line. Lowry, not to be outdone, included 3 long balls among his 13 field goals. One of Lowry’s 3-balls was a memorable rainbringer from well behind the arc which pushed the Raptors ahead as the first half closed.
The third quarter was the Raptors’ best, as DeMar was nearly unstoppable. He hit 5 baskets, several of them impressive takes to the hoop, and was rewarded for his efforts with 5 free throws. The narrow Toronto lead was stretched to eleven. Sadly Q4 was when all the poor shooting really caught up to the Raptors (Ross and Patterson…0 of 8). Meanwhile, Trey Burke, who sat the entire first half, emerged from his coach’s doghouse with 11 points. The Jazz chewed through much of the Raptors’ margin, but Kyle Lowry took over. He made 5 baskets, several of them at stop-the-bleeding moments, and grabbed 4 defensive rebounds. The Raptors swarmed over Gordon Hayward, who had hurt them all game. The Jazz started missing, the Raptors cashed in on the fast break, and the tense crowd (another sellout) was able to relax.
Utah’s offense was compromised when Rodney Hood crashed into Bismack Biyombo, was floored, and need help to leave the court. He didn’t return, having taken an inadvertent elbow to the head. The Jazz guards remaining couldn’t cope with our guys.
I harped about unbalanced Raptors scoring last week, but even I didn’t expect such woeful performances from the rest of the squad. Every one of the ten Raptors who hit the floor scored, but not much. Only Jonas Valanciunas of the remaining three starters earned a (yes, just one) trip to the charity stripe. At least he got to double figures, as did Terrence Ross, who scored three nice buckets in Q2, then one more the balance of the game.
Patrick Patterson’s slump has now gone on so long that we must conclude he’s reached his new normal. 2-Pat had one make in nine tries, with five of those misses from beyond the arc. It’s no wonder the Raptors’ assists totals are so low relative to their number of wins. Kyle Lowry fed 2-Pat a number of excellent passes providing open looks, to no avail. Thankfully Patterson defends his position well, or we’d never see him.
Speaking of no see, Jason Thompson, our new man at PF, was dressed but didn’t play. That’s not surprising, but I strongly suspect we’ll see him put in a token appearance on Friday against Portland. Lucas Nogueira got some burn and was a remarkable plus_11 in 4+ minutes.
Kyle and DeMar carried the team on this night, but I’m willing to wager they would be happy to share the glory should someone else want to step up. In fact, that has to happen. The Trail Blazers’ backcourt is excellent, and our men will have their hands full.