The Toronto Raptors capture their first win of the season, ripping the Wolves up 105 to 86. This was not the most interesting game, with Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio out, the Raptors took advantage of the Wolves crippled offense.
The starting back court of Toronto was back in action, producing the same monstrous results. DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry dropped 22 points each, with Lowry passing out an additional 5 assists. The game remained close until third quarter where the Raps drowned Minnesota with a barrage of points in the blow out.
Andrei Kirilenko led all Wolves with 17 points, 6 rebounds and 3 blocks, Nikola Pekovic helped with 15 points. Minnesota stayed in the game early despite turning the ball over 16 times in the first half, contributing to 27 Raptor points, eventually their carelessness came back to haunt them, giving up the rock a total 24 times tonight.
Offensive End:
The Raptors ran a lot of isolations, taking advantage of the mismatch and getting easy points. Ball movement was definitely not as good as it was in the Brooklyn game. The focal point of the Raptor's offense is still DeMar and Andrea, they like to get them going early. Besides Jose Calderon, the rest of the guys that ran a pick and roll usually used the screen to get an open shot or path to the basket.
Minnesota looks into the post early, using Pekovic's beast of a body to bully Jonas Valaciunas. If they don't look for the post up, they run a basic pick and roll with cutter coming across.
Defensive End:
Toronto needs to fix their transition defense. It has been the biggest concern over the last 3, they just can't seem to set themselves fast enough to neutralize the quick oncoming attack. Their rotations were decent tonight, but they didn't have a real challenge to defend against.
The Wolves' defense at the back court is especially weak, allowing an above average shooting guard (DeMar DeRozan) to do whatever he wanted on the floor is unacceptable. Their front court with Pekovic and Kirilenko did a great job against the Toronto big men.
The Moments:
- Alexey Shved has the girliest hair in the NBA period, no discussion.
- HOT CHEETOS AND TAKIS played at the Air Canada Center, and according to twitter, the Raptors Children dance team used it as part of their performance. Although this is greatest thing to ever happen, it is ironic to be played in Canada because unfortunately we don't carry those hand-dyeing snacks. It is fitting to be played against the Wolves, since the song was sang by kids in Minnesota.
- Dante Cunningham heel kicked J.J. Barea in the forehead and gave his own teammate a concussion.
Jonas Valaciunas always bring a lot of energy, he might not play well, but he will play hard. He got 4 point sand 4 rebounds at the end of the night.
Terrence Ross shows confidence, he has a lot of work to do on the defensive end and nee to bulk up to keep up with the rest of the NBA. He got in foul trouble early, 3 fouls in 5 minutes, and knocked down a jumper in the garbage time.
Alexey Shved played pretty well, he needs to do what I prescribed for Ross as well. He has a lot of potential, great court vision, dished 4 assists and scored 8 point in 22 minutes.
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