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| After last night, the Raptors should be Lowry's team (Courtesy: Associated Press) |
- My big question after the Raptors' season opener was who would take the ball in his hands at the end of games. Who was going to be the guy? After last night, it's got to be Kyle Lowry. He took a couple ill-advised deep jumpers, and turned the ball over a couple times in the Raptors' awful second quarter, but the numbers speak for themselves: 28 points, 8 boards, 8 assists, all while shooting just under 50% from the floor. It's your team now, Kyle.
- Just a couple days after I (and pretty much everyone else) crushed DeMar DeRozan's new contract, he came up big for the Raps, netting 25 points. In classic DeRozan fashion, he didn't do much else to fill the stat sheet, nabbing only 3 rebounds, to go with 1 assist and 1 steal. He got the the foul line 10-times which is a great sign going forward.
- I can not for the life of me understand the Raptors coaching staff's interest in Aaron Gray. He played 19 minutes last night, and scored 3 points while grabbing 4 boards. I think he was out there to try to defend Brook Lopez, but Gray got abused on D too (Lopez finished with 27 points). Just not a great game for Gray.
- What makes Gray's night worse, is that Jonas Valanciunas only played 12 minutes... don't get that one.
- The Raptors lost this game in the second quarter, getting out-scored 33-17, and turning the ball over multiple times. They got close a couple times late in the game, but the 2nd Q really buried that Raptors.
- I'm worried about the second unit. I like the Raptors starters, but there is a significant drop in talent once they hit the bench. Ed Davis looked good offensively, but when Jose Calderon goes 1-for-5 from the field (like he did last night), the second unit will lose a lot of games for the Raptors.
Around the league:
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| Brandon Jennings treated the 50 people who tuned into the Cavs-Bucks game with a sick game-winner |
- Boston really hasn't looked good offensively so far. They eked out a win in Washington last night, but really have got to figure out their rotation. Doc Rivers has said a couple times the want to have a 10-man rotation, but so far the results have been poor.
- Whenever the Rockets lose, James Harden's stats are going to look a lot like they did last night. He scored 24 points, but it took him 24 shots to do so, as the Portland D keyed in on him in the second half. Harden will get his on most nights, but for the Rockets to succeed, someone else has to step up as a viable scoring option.
- New Orleans could be a sneaky-good team all year. Not that they'll make the playoffs, but they will be a tough matchup every night. Without first overall pick Anthony Davis (who missed the game due to a concussion), the Hornets still shut down the Bulls, on their way to a 89-82 road victory.
- Milwaukee trumped Cleveland 105-102, in a game no one outside of Milwaukee or Cleveland cared about. It ended in a pretty awesome way, though.
- The San Antonio Spurs are, once again, really really good. They controlled the Jazz throughout the first 2 quarters, and then completely blew it in the third, getting outscored 35-17. Lesser teams might have lost the game, as Utah had all the momentum heading into the final quarter, but not the Spurs. They closed the door on the Jazz, winning the 4th (and the game) by 10 points. San Antonio has the ability to turn it on, and completely out-class teams, and they did just that last night.
- Gerald Green can jump.
- Ray Allen can shoot.
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