Quick Reaction: Raptors @ Mavs

He was being guarded by a dude named Jae Crowder, where Crowder is pronounced like this, and managed to get outplayed. I’m not sure what to make of him other than that he can’t create his own shot, and basically wanders around the court setting random screens. I like that moment he drove the lane, passed the ball to DeRozan on the baseline and then proceeded to block DeRozan’s path to the basket.

Slow in the first but showed up in the second, probably after realizing Nowitzki wasn’t playing and stiffs like Troy Murphy were guarding him. On a night like this, with Nowitzki out, he needed to boss from the beginning. Better, but too little and too late. Sorry, but my expectations are a little high for a guy in his seventh year.

Here’s a rule Casey needs to adopt ASAP: There is no such thing as foul trouble for a Valanciunas. No need to break his rhythm, best let him continue and figure things out rather than interrupt him. He did get schooled by Kaman a couple times, and like Pekovic, struggled dealing with pure bulk. His time will come, write this off to education.

Guess who’s back starting? Played even with Collison, tested his shot early, and I thought he held his own defensively in that miserable first quarter where the defense was a shambles. Missed some shots in the second half that could’ve brought some momentum. As is usually the case, played well with Amir Johnson.

Playa came back with a strong one again, although much like Bargnani, it should’ve happened from the start instead of in the second half. Ten trips to the line is nice, but the way Mayo lit him up hurt the team.

Not sure what he did to only deserve five minutes.

Hustler with an 18/11, the only Raptor who was in it from the start. He probably looked at the bench bigs he was up against and figured this is the night to have a game. That block on Collison in transition was sweet.

His existence has been confirmed.

Another guy who’s a better option to receive minutes over Fields.

I thought the Raptors should’ve used a big lineup from the start – something like Bargnani at the three, Gray in the middle and Jonas at the four. To see him only get 9 minutes, and Valanciunas only 10 with the Raptors getting outrebounded by 9 is…odd.

Always in a hurry but going nowhere. He needed to provide a scoring punch and ended up with an 0-3. Bad game.

Bench-high FGAs which is a problem that needs addressing. I really think the bench needs to be redesigned, whether it be bringing some potential scoring in there by demoting Fields, or shifting Bargnani’s scoring into the second unit, I don’t know. Something’s got to be done.

Had one nice drive for a floater and one airball. I can’t recall his third shot but I’m sure it was ugly. Zeroes everywhere else. The thought that he would be a Mo Pete type player and contribute in other ways may still hold, but he’s shown nothing like the sort so far.