5 Who balled and 2 who stalled in Raptors' gut-punch overtime loss to Nuggets

Davion Mitchell and Jamal Shead balled out

The law firm of Mitchell and Shead have taken over point guard duties in the absence of Immanuel Quickley, and Darko Rajakovic and his coaching staff will have a difficult decision once Quickley returns because both have earned a role moving forward.

Together one or the other played all but a handful of seconds against the Nuggets and were elite defensively, holding the combination of Jamal Murray and Russell Westbrook to 9-of-27 shooting for the night (33 percent) and 0-for-3 from deep. Neither could gain any amount of separation beyond the arc. Murray has not been at his best to start the season, but if he hoped to get going against the "soft" defense of the Raptors he was sorely mistaken as Mitchell and Shead were relentless.

Competent point guard play is the most important baseline for an NBA offense, and the Raptors of last season can attest what happens when you don't have it. The Raptors have three such players now, and together Mitchell and Shead combined for 11 assists in 53 minutes combined.

Mitchell started and took the bulk of the minutes, 35 to Shead's 18, and it speaks to his place in the pecking order. Still, Shead was steady with the ball and patient finding cutters and shooters; on one such play he curled around a screen just inside the arc and hit a cutting Javon Battle on the baseline for a bucket. He has played extremely well to start the season.

Mitchell, however, was on another level as a defender, sticking to Jamal Murray like glue. On the final possession of regulation it took a hard Jokic screen to separate Mitchell just enough for Murray to get loose baseline, forcing an awkward switch by Jakob Poeltl who couldn't quite keep up. It was the only small blemish on an otherwise incredible defensive night for Mitchell.