Toronto Raptors: 3 Takeaways from win against 76ers, including a big night for big men

Big Night for Big Men

One of the biggest things that helped give the Raptors the edge tonight was the aggressiveness from all of the big men. Serge’s 18 and 8 is something Raptors fans are accustomed to seeing on a nightly basis now (give or take a few points or rebounds), so instead let’s focus on Jonas Valanciunas‘ outburst and Greg Monroe’s impact on the game.

I keep joking around with the guys in my fantasy league that JV’s got the worst hands in the league — he always seems to bobble the ball when given an entry pass or has butterfingers around the rim. However, despite these slippery hands, he has shown flashes of dominance throughout the season. This was one of those nights, as he threw down multiple thunderous dunks that Embiid wanted no part of, en route to a 26 and 8 performance.

More importantly, when early foul trouble sidelined JV, Greg Monroe was able to eat up solid minutes and continue the precedent set by Nick Nurse’s rotation bigs.

Despite being an end-of-rotation guy on a deep Raptors team (drop from 10.3 points and 6.9 rebounds per game in 2017-2018 to 3.7 points and 3 rebounds per game this season), many forget that Greg Monroe was a dominant double-double machine in Detroit just a few years ago, playing alongside yet another double-double god in Andre Drummond.

In his limited minutes last night, Monroe was able to pester Embiid defensively including a passing lane deflection that led to a coast-to-coast play on the other end. Hopefully, Nurse will trust in Monroe more as the season progresses to tackle tough defensive assignments and bring energy while Serge and JV rest.