Toronto Raptors: Whose stock is rising/falling in Game 1 and Game 2?

Norman Powell

WAIT, WHAT?!

I know, I thought we were done with this. That Norman Powell had finally turned over a leaf and was proving to be a consistent option for the much-maligned Raptors bench.

Apparently not.

Finishing the season on a tear, Powell averaged 10.2 points across the final ten games of the season, shooting 63-percent from three on three attempts per game. Yeah, it was something else.

Powell was making all of the right decisions on offense too, something that seemed like an abstract concept last season. But still, he was attacking players off the bounce when they would run him off the line and knocked down his open jumpers. It seemed like we were going to get peak Powell in the playoffs.

Yet, here we are, two games into the series and Norman Powell has been..pretty meh.

Well less than that, Powell has been pretty out of sorts. He’s averaged 21 minutes of action across the first two games of the series and in that span, he’s putting up 4.5 points per game on 21-percent shooting from the field. Ugh.

Worse yet, he’s averaging 12.5-percent from three. Come on, what is going on here?!

With OG Anunoby out for an undetermined amount of time, Powell is the only legitimate wing the Raptors have coming off of the bench, and thus, they need strong performances from him each night.

The ship hasn’t sailed for Norm featuring prominently in the playoff rotations yet, it’s only Game 3. But with Patrick McCaw returning to the team on Friday night, who knows how that could play out.

Powell is definitely the superior offensive player, and McCaw’s limitations on that end of the court could well make him virtually unplayable, but we need more from him if he’s getting over 20 minutes a night.