Quick Reaction: Raptors 97, Bobcats 98

Was switched to guard Kemba Walker during the fourth and did a better job than Jose and Lowry, combined.

Appeared to be fouled on the release on that shot at the buzzer. For shame, because he had an otherwise decent offensive game including a couple big shots in the fourth. The defense was putrid and Charlotte was even isolating him against Mullens at times. If you`re wondering how a team playing small ball can outrebound a team with two 7-footers in the starting lineup, look no further than AB`s rebound contribution tonight.

So it`s OK to play him 35 minutes on the second night of a back-to-back, but limit him to 25 and not play him in the fourth quarter of a game you`d probably have won if he was in the night before? He was awesome again and the lone big who made his size count. Great to see the PGs looking of him more and more. Word is that the Raptors want to restrict him to ”positive learning situations”, whatever that means and that’s why the weird subs.

Started off great and cooled as the game went on. Relished the matchup with Kemba who played him even. A couple selfish shots in the fourth quarter soured things, and you`d expect him to bring a little more composure to the unit down the stretch.

Was played tough by Jeffery Taylor early and didn`t administer the punishment on the rookie which you`d expect. Once he settled down, he played well in the fourth including a massive And1, and by all accounts should have been going to the line with a chance to give the Raptors a lead, but the refs swallowed their whistle. Give credit to DeRozan, always tried to do the right things on the court and was aggressive all night. The single FT isn`t for not trying.

No idea why he was taken out, I thought he could`ve been the answer to our rebounding issues, especially in some stretches in the fourth quarter. However, when Bargnani plays well and Valanciunas a fixture in the middle, his minutes will be hit.

I don’t even realize when he’s in and out of games most of the time. Like tonight, he played 10 minutes but was damn near invisible. He`s supposed to be our Bismack Biyombo of sorts, or maybe a functional version of Loren Woods, instead he`s carved himself a new personality which is mainly defined by inconsistency. You’d think he’d be a prime contributor in the small-ball type of games, but not so much. The only reason he played a few minutes in the second half was because Valanciunas fouled out.

Would’ve been a valuable contributor if he could hit his threes. Missed all three in thirteen minutes, which resulted in a deserved benching.

Terrible perimeter defense all night, didn`t even try to make a stand. He had two turnovers, both awful and one of them leading to a DeRozan clear-path foul. What`s not reflected in the box score is the situations he put his teammates in late in the shot clock. The worst was passing it to JV in the corner with the shot-clock at 2.

Good stuff, here. Great in transition, hit a huge three early in the fourth and threw a dunk down on Biyombo in transition. Looked much smoother, and the fast pace of the game suited him a lot more than digging in half-court sets.