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A brand new group of Raptors took the ground on Monday night time with a brand new sense of power.
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They regarded nice at occasions in going up by 19 factors and like they didn’t know what they had been doing at others (since they’d barely had an opportunity to get to know one another), however ultimately, earned a 124-121 win in entrance of the loudest crowd of the season at Scotiabank Enviornment.
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Right here’s the report card:
PASCAL SIAKAM: A+
Siakam was as dominant as we’ve ever seen him. Along with his three-point shot falling (5-for-8), there merely was no approach for the Cavs to protect him. When Cleveland massive man Jarrett Allen rested, Siakam scored at will. When Allen performed, Siakam nonetheless scored simply. It was a clinic and a reminder that whereas Scottie Barnes is the rising face of the franchise, Siakam continues to be its most achieved participant and greatest scorer.
RJ BARRETT: A
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Not an ideal debut, however a reasonably darn good one for the native lad. Barrett confirmed all sides of his recreation, the optimistic and the not so optimistic. Generally he forces the difficulty a bit, resulting in turnovers, however he additionally places a ton of stress on defenders by always attacking and might bail out a stalling offence as a 1-on-1 scorer. There may be some DeMar DeRozan in his recreation for certain and Barrett jerseys are going to fly off the cabinets. The clutch free throws had been the icing on the cake for a participant who has gone from a 71% profession free-throw shooter to 83% this season.
JAKOB POELTL: A
Simply Poeltl’s greatest recreation of the season and certainly one of his greatest as a Raptor. There was a unique power from the bounce as Poeltl outplayed all-star Allen within the first half fairly decisively. He paired properly with Immanuel Quickley, guarded the rim successfully and was everywhere in the offensive and defensive glass. Extra of this Poeltl can be good to see.
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SCOTTIE BARNES: B
Not the simplest Barnes recreation to grade. He made some spectacular performs to sink the Cavs (the driving, Dr. J-esque layup for one and the mountain-climbing rebound to seal the deal come to thoughts) however wasn’t as nice as we’ve seen him so typically for the complete 48 minutes. Barnes was nonetheless productive, simply in all probability not an all-star degree efficiency from him total.
IMMANUEL QUICKLEY: B-
Foul hassle restricted Quickley’s impression, however you might see why the Raptors wished him. Quickley has the prettiest jumper we’ve seen in these components shortly and looks like a very sensible participant on each ends of the ground (he was already calling out performs, determining the place his teammates wished the ball on offence and was masking tons of floor defensively). Quickley goes to be much more impactful as soon as he will get his sea legs, however he’s a participant.
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GARY TRENT JR.: B-
Normally if Trent isn’t seeing his pictures drop, he doesn’t have a lot of an impression in a recreation. This one was totally different. He was extra energetic defensively than we’ve seen him all yr, stepping into passing lanes always (team-high three deflections) and had six rebounds, certainly one of his highs as a Raptor. He missed some open pictures (5-of-8, per NBA.com), however nonetheless had a pleasant impression off the bench. As soon as his jumper begins falling, the Raptors’ bench all of the sudden appears fairly harmful.
DENNIS SCHRODER: B-
Related issues will be mentioned about Schroder, who couldn’t hit his open pictures both, however nonetheless did loads of positives on the market. Schroder had a game-high eight assists and tied with Poeltl for the Raptor excessive with 50 passes within the recreation and helped the workforce shut the sport by beating the Cavaliers off the dribble.
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INC: THAD YOUNG, CHRIS BOUCHER
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THREE STARS
1. Pascal Siakam
2. Donovan Mitchell
3. RJ Barrett
HM: Jakob Poeltl, Caris LeVert, Sam Merrill, Scottie Barnes.
DECEMBER THREE STARS WRAPUP
Solely 4 Raptors even earned a star for a recreation in December. Barnes and Siakam dominated the alternatives, with Barnes incomes 26 complete factors (three for a primary star, two for a second, one for a 3rd), Siakam incomes 21, OG Anunoby 4 and Gary Trent Jr. 1.
For the season, Barnes now leads with 45 factors, Siakam has 38, Anunoby 16, Dennis Schroder 5, Jakob Poeltl 4, Chris Boucher 3 and Trent Jr. 1.
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