Raptors 131 – Magic 112: Fill it up
By Brian Boake
The Raptors and Magic played a defense-free match last night. Happily for Toronto fans, our shooting was better than theirs.
The Toronto Raptors haven’t been in a last-basket-wins game in a while, but that’s what last night’s tilt against the Orlando Magic turned out to be. Neither team showed much interest in playing defense, and shots poured in from everywhere by everyone. Fortunately for the home team, they had a difference-maker named DeMar DeRozan in their colours.
Terrence Ross led the Magic to an early lead, which the Raptors overcame by quarter’s end. With 69 points total on the board, the tone of the game was established. Aaron Gordon slipped behind the Raptors D several times for alley-oop dunks, while DeRozan was working his mid-range magic, collecting 18 points.
Toronto owned Q2, led by Stormin’ Norman Powell. He didn’t miss on 3 long balls, and 8 Raptors collected points. With a season-high 73 on the board, the Raps looked set to romp.
Not so fast. Orlando had 55 by the break, so our much-vaunted defense was taking a beating. The Magic continued their act in Q3, aided greatly by some sloppy passes from our guards. Cory Joseph had 9 assists in the first half, but lost the handle to the tune of 3 of the team’s 7 turnovers.
Wright stops the bleeding
The Magic had roared back to within 5 points when DeMar DeRozan drained another mid-range jumper with 3 seconds to play. Ex-Raptor Bismack Biyombo threw an in-bounds pass which was intercepted by the wily Delon Wright. Not content with that bit of larceny, our backup point guard drained a corner 3-ball as the buzzer sounded. Voila – 3 seconds, 5 points, and the air almost completely blown out of the Magic’s tires.
Orlando never came closer than a dozen points in Q4, and coach Dwane Casey emptied his bench.
Piling up 131 points required a lot of help beyond DeRozan’s 36 (which should have been 40 except for his bad night from the stripe). Jonas Valanciunas used a quick first step to shed Nikola Vucevic several times. JV had an efficient 17, needing a mere 9 shots, and led the team with a plus_21. Serge Ibaka continued his fine jump shooting, sometimes at the expense of driving to the hoop. Powell ended 4 of 6 from deep, and totaled 16. Jakob Poeltl was embarrassed by TRoss, when our ex-swingman poked the ball out of his hands and raced up the court for a 360 slam. Poeltl swallowed his medicine, and scored 12. Cory Joseph enjoyed a double-double of 15 points and 13 dimes.
The Raptors’ defensive stats took a major hit, but our team’s record improved with its sixth straight win. The Charlotte Hornets are in town on Wednesday night. Come on, seven.