Thad Young and the Toronto Raptors went into the season expecting names like Pascal Siakam, Scottie Barnes, and Fred VanVleet to lead them to the promised land. In their second matchup of the season against Kevin Durant and the Brooklyn Nets, none of them were active.
Toronto was missing six rotation players in this game. VanVleet was still apparently not over his non-COVID illness, Precious Achiuwa has his ankle issue, and Dalano Banton is nursing his own ankle ailment. The Nets put up 38 first-quarter points against a dshellshocked defense but the Raptors quickly rallied in the second stanza.
Nick Nurse’s Raptors ultimately fell 112-98 to the Nets and fell to 9-9 on the season. Trying to stop a doomsday offense led by former trade target Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving for four quarters with two-thirds of the starting rotation inactive is simply not a winning formula.
It’s hard to read too much into Toronto’s overall performance in this game, given how many of their best players were unable to suit up. However, even the untrained eye could see that some players stunk it up against an exploitable defense and some put together a solid night of work.
Toronto Raptors v,eteran Thad Young had a solid outing.
Young has been showered with praise in the last few weeks, as the veteran’s combination of experienced playmaking and surprising scoring has cemented a place in the full-strength rotation. He was one of the few Raptors who was succeeding on both ends in the defeat against Brooklyn.
Young finished the game with 12 points, eight rebounds, and five assists before being pulled when the outcome was decided. He was the only Raptors player who made over half his shots, which shows just how bad this team was on the offensive end for most of the game.
Night-to-night, Thad Young runs a clinic on the fundamentals of basketball. He does the “small stuff” so well.
— Savanna Hamilton (@SavHamilton11) November 24, 2022
Young has been so deadly as a rebounder and passer that it makes the decision to essentially blacklist him from the rotation at the beginning of the year even more puzzling. Hopefully, the last few weeks have cemented the fact that he is essential to this team in Nurse’s mind.
Malachi Flynn didn’t play well for the Toronto Raptors.
It looked like this game was going to be a complete Flynn takeover, as he hit two 3-pointers very early on in the first quarter. After that, Flynn had a nightmare game, wasting a golden opportunity to prove to Nurse that he should be in the rotation when everyone is fully healthy.
Flynn ended up with just eight points on 3-10 shooting in this game, going the entire second and third quarters without getting any points. Jeff Dowtin, who had a solid game after being called up from Raptors 905, looked much better than Flynn did tonight.
.@malachiflynn with the back-to-back 👌's https://t.co/xbD4uHlZSR pic.twitter.com/kdW2mHtfUC
— Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) November 24, 2022
This was certainly disappointing for Flynn, who has had some terrific ofundoubtedlyerformances when called into action this season. When Banton returns to full health, the question of which point guard Nurse will turn to just got even more complicated.