All-Star Demar Continues To Roll

RAPTORS 94, JAZZ 79

Demar DeRozan lead the Toronto Raptors to a comfortable, yet at times tricky, victory over the Utah Jazz. After trailing at the end of the first quarter, the Raptors allowed the Jazz just 52 points for the rest of the game, and in the end ran away with a 15-point win.

-I was mightily impressed with Dwane Casey's early gameplan; feed Jonas Valanciunas in the post in order to build an early lead. Jonas was far too skilful posting up on Enes Kanter, and dropped 8 first-quarter points. Jonas would go on to have a strong influence on the victory, getting involved defensively by blocking and altering shots, and by grabbing 9 rebounds, an area in which the Jazz were able to have some success. Great showing by Valanciunas, but credit needs to go to Casey for running the offense through him early, allowing the big man to get his confidence up for the remainder of the game. 

-When Utah made their fourth-quarter run, and cut the Raptor lead to just 5, Demar DeRozan continued to show his class and pure skill, pulling the Raptors out of danger with big plays. DeRozan, who early in the game showed his continuing evolution as a player with great court-vision leading to assists, turned on the scoring in the final quarter, dropping 9 points. With Kyle Lowry remaining out of the game with knee soreness, the Raptors needed a clutch performance from Demar, and he duly delivered. This was an All-Star calibre game for DeRozan, who is on a pretty great tear since he missed a couple of games last week. Again, +/- is not a defining statistic, but Demar was a +30 tonight.

-The 'Toronto Kings' had another really good showing, out-scoring the Jazz bench by 10 points, and by being the catalyst behind the defensive improvement. Patterson, Salmons, Hayes and, to some extent, Vasquez always seem motivated when called upon to re-focus the Raptor defense. Offensively, Salmons continued to provide a solid scoring option, draining 3 three-pointers on his way to 13 points. The idea of having an entire bench of players from another team seems to be working, as the chemistry they display on both ends of the floor is terrific. 

-Statistics that I liked: the Raptors threw 21 assists on the night, while only turning the ball over 6 times.  The Jazz shot just 3/17 from three-point range, showing effective close-out defense from the Raptors. Johnson and Valanciunas combined for 20 rebounds, 9 of which were offensive. Also in terms of rebounds, the Raptors, who trailed the Jazz 22-19 after the first half, ended up winning the rebounding 44-39. The lack of rebounding was the key reason the Jazz could build a lead in the first place, but fixing this up was what sealed the win for the Raps. 


PLAYER VOTES

3 votes- DEMAR DEROZAN (23pts, 7/13FGs, 4asts, 4rebs).

2 votes- JONAS VALANCIUNAS (18pts, 8/14FGs, 9rebs).

1 vote- JOHN SALMONS (13pts, 5/9FGs, 3/5 3pts, 4asts).


NEXT- FEBRUARY 5 @SACRAMENTO. So we finally get a chance to play the Kings, whose lineup of course now features former Raptors Aaron Gray, Quincy Acy, and Rudy Gay. This should be a fun game; I'm particularly hoping that Demar and Rudy get a chance to go head-to-head. DeMarcus Cousins will be a very big test for Jonas Valanciunas, too.