It was truly an "All hands on deck" and "Everybody eats" affair for the Toronto Raptors on March 29, as they took care of business comfortably over the Orlando Magic. Up by as much as 56, 82 points scored inside the paint, 113 points scored through just three quarters of play, 20 steals (a new franchise record), 41 assists across the board, meaningful production from the underhanded starters and hungry bench unit — again, what more could you ask for?
One of those helping hands slotting into the starting unit amid the injury absence of Immanuel Quickley was Jamal Shead. It's been quite the late-season campaign for Shead, especially in the timeline since the All-Star break, as he's caught many Raptors fans' attentions (and a few of us here at Raptors Rapture) for a worrying trend in his play and effort.
The standout leader-in-training (as I christened him early in the year) had his obvious offensive limitations, but the growing concern of his ability to impact the Raptors in a winning effort began to be a serious question, as he was quickly turning into an offensive black hole (for as high as his playmaking and on-court IQ have been regarded).
But even just a few contests ago, we saw Jamal Shead secure a new career-high in assists, after recording 14 dimes against the Utah Jazz. This was especially striking seeing as the Raptors just brought in Markelle Fultz, another stout guard looking to prove himself in Toronto's pecking order, so it sort of put Shead on a bit of high alert. That kind of effort was great to see out of Shead, but in that same Jazz game, he still showed struggles in generating strong and efficient offensive looks for himself.
Which brings me to the performance we saw out of Shead in this one against Orlando. In over 23 minutes of action, Shead scored 12 points on 4-for-5 shooting,10 assists, two rebounds, three steals, and a plus/minus of +34. It marked Shead's second double-double performance on the year after doing so in a losing overtime effort against the Los Angeles Clippers on January 16.
Jamal Shead has a great Raptors showing in dominant effort over Magic
Again, with Shead, I'm never expecting him to put up crazy numbers or anything like that (at least on a scoring front). But I was very pleased to see his shot selection in this game, despite the overall Raptors performance going in their favor from the get go.
The topic of Shead potentially hitting his stride as a reliable three-point threat has been discussed here on Raptors Rapture before, but amid his poor run, it became more of detriment to see Shead attempting so many threes yet to no avail. Against Orlando, Shead opted not to shoot the three-ball at all, and in my opinion, I think that helped him do the things on offense that just work better for him.
He got to the free throw line twice and went perfect there (4-for-4). And with his two driving floaters and running finger roll layup — those are solid looks for Shead so long as there isn't an imposing defender there to block the shot or give a good contest. Also, Shead successfully intercepted a pass early in the fourth to turn it into a wide open dunk on the other end.
I'm not expecting Shead to put up double-doubles every night (though that would be fun). However, if the Raptors want to achieve real playoff noise, they'll need their sophomore guard to contribute in more ways than just being a sound passer, and this performance against Orlando serves as proof he can get there.