Quick Reaction: Timberwolves 128, Raptors 126

CMB was nice in the dunker’s spot tonight, but like many of his teammates, he had a great first half and then a lackluster second half. His defense was pretty solid against Minnesota’s frontcourt, he took bumps from Randle, boxed out against Gobert, he did seem too hesitant at times tonight though.

Scottie had many strong and powerful drives tonight, he used quick bursts and his size to explode through tight spaces and also into the chests of defenders to get to the cup. He didn’t even attempt a three pointer tonight, that’s how focused he was on getting into the paint. He pushed the pace well tonight, using his passing in transition to give Toronto’s offense a boost.

Quickley was great from downtown tonight, he really took advantage of the spot up threes he was afforded. Minnesota would try to overhelp and when the ball was swung to Quickley he more often than not knocked down the three ball. He was also pretty quiet in the 4th during the comeback, could’ve used some scoring from him to fend off Minnesota.

Ingram had a solid scoring night but his shot selection and lack of shotmaking down the stretch was brutal for Toronto. Earlier in the game when Toronto had a sizable lead, he was cashing in mid-range after mid-range, they were contested but they were falling, but down the stretch these same shots could not be counted on.

RJ still does not look right as a driver since his injury and tonight was the same case. He can’t seem to get that bit of space he needs to finish comfortably, so many of his drives resulted in early pickups followed by contested layup attempts. He had a brutal back-to-back turnover sequence in the clutch that forced him to the bench as well.

Mamu did most of his damage in the first half, using his activity on the glass and off-ball movement to get a few easy looks to fall. When Minnesota was closing in on Toronto he hit a clutch wing 3 in the 4th to hold them off but ultimately it wasn’t enough. Mamu’s paint defense was fairly useless against the size of Minnesota, he would just watch helplessly as Naz Reid and Gobert put up shots under the rim.

Gradey did not get up a single perimeter shot tonight, he just got a grenade which he turned into a wonderful reverse finish, and a putback dunk to extend Toronto’s lead. Outside of that he did not get free for any other looks. He didn’t play much in the second half, but his impact on the game was not noticeable outside of a few moments in the first half.

Shead really showed off his speed throughout the game today, everything he did was at 100 miles per hour, unfortunately he was doing a lot of nothing at a fast pace. Too often tonight he would launch himself out of a cannon at the rim with no intention to score, so he would have to just kick the ball out to reset. His fast pace came to bite him at the end of the game when he turned it over when Toronto had the chance to tie the game with a three as well.

Ja’Kobe’s energy was pretty high tonight, you could see him flying around the court, taking on the Edwards matchup for a bit, pressuring the ball. He didn’t get many minutes tonight, and only hit one triple, and his second half run was pretty impactless also.

Darko always waits too long to call a timeout the there is a clear momentum shift happening and that happened many times tonight.