Quick Reaction: Nuggets 127, Raptors 125

B

R. Barrett29 MIN, 20 PTS, 5 REB, 3 AST, 0 STL, 9-21 FG, 2-6 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 2 TO, -3 +/-

RJ’s debut for the season comes in game 4. Missed his first shot, which led to 9 points until his next miss. Some easy misses at the rim which will hopefully be gone in a few games as he gets more comfortable. RJ’s post-game looks much cleaner as he’s shown a quick hop step into a shoulder bump and then finish over a defender in the second half. His Best quarter came in the first and he faded the rest of the way. RJ’s play of the game by far came midway in the fourth when he postered Aaron Gordon with a one-hand tomahawk. He had a good overtime period that ended with a horrible hero three. Outside of the 1st and OT, he was invisible.

A

S. Barnes35 MIN, 21 PTS, 12 REB, 9 AST, 5 STL, 9-19 FG, 1-3 3FG, 2-4 FT, 1 BLK, 4 TO, -2 +/-

Good start for Scottie in this one as he didn’t take many shots early but brought some great energy on the boards, defence and flashed his playmaking abilities. He was hunting his shot in the second quarter and made multiple tough shots in the post. The highlight of the game for Scottie was either the half-court lob pass to Agbaji or his chase-down block late in the fourth after a head-scratching turnover. Took a Jokic forearm to the face in the dying seconds of the game so hopefully Scottie B is ok.

A-

J. Pöltl40 MIN, 16 PTS, 19 REB, 2 AST, 0 STL, 7-13 FG, 0-0 3FG, 2-2 FT, 1 BLK, 3 TO, -1 +/-

Decent start on the boards for Poeltl and a nice contested push shot on Michael Porter Jr. early in the first quarter. One of his main weaknesses, free throws looks much better so far. Jokic was cooking him, but the Joker cooks everyone so you can’t knock him for that. Poeltl started amazingly in the third quarter with a block and two points. He flashed a classic Siakam move as he pulled off a spin off the dribble which led to a layup on Jokic. He got better as the game went on and easily had his game of the season so far. The only negatives with him so far are some very poor turnovers.

B-

G. Dick37 MIN, 15 PTS, 1 REB, 4 AST, 0 STL, 5-13 FG, 2-7 3FG, 3-3 FT, 1 BLK, 0 TO, -4 +/-

Pedestrian start, 1/4 shooting after his first shift. Not much in the second quarter either. Gradey has definitely worked on his finishing as he pulled off the double clutch layup from opening night here again tonight. He saved his best for last as he made some huge free throws and two huge threes midway through the fourth quarter. After a clutch fourth quarter, Gradey missed a contested fast-break layup that could have made it a one-point game with less than a minute to go.

A-

D. Mitchell35 MIN, 16 PTS, 2 REB, 6 AST, 0 STL, 5-10 FG, 3-6 3FG, 3-4 FT, 1 BLK, 4 TO, 0 +/-

Pedestrian start, with only two points and one rebound after his first shift. Looked much better in the second quarter with solid defence and eight points. He started forcing a few tough shots in the second half after the second quarter gave him a confident boost. Mitchell had a great playmaking fourth quarter as he got multiple assists in the most important quarter. The one problem so far with Mitchell has been turnovers. A bad late free throw miss with a little over nine seconds to go allowed the Nuggets to tie it with a two at the buzzer, which they did. A huge three in the overtime gave the Raptors life when the game was about to spiral out of control.

B+

O. Agbaji29 MIN, 15 PTS, 7 REB, 0 AST, 1 STL, 6-12 FG, 2-5 3FG, 1-2 FT, 1 BLK, 0 TO, -5 +/-

First player off the bench. So far this season Agbaji hasn’t been chucking any bad shots and playing good defence. That continued tonight. Wasn’t a big fan of his last season, but so far Agbaji is showing much better decision-making. Bad miss with 21 seconds to go in the fourth quarter that made it a one-possession game the rest of the way.

B-

C. Boucher13 MIN, 4 PTS, 3 REB, 0 AST, 0 STL, 2-6 FG, 0-2 3FG, 0-0 FT, 1 BLK, 0 TO, 3 +/-

Boucher was pretty much invisible in the first half but in the second half, he showed great rim protection and made a tough fade-away mid-range jumper.

B+

J. Shead18 MIN, 8 PTS, 1 REB, 5 AST, 1 STL, 4-8 FG, 0-2 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, 0 +/-

Great job on Jamal Murray early on in his first shift as he forced a few misses at the rim. Great energy and playmaking like always. His second half wasn’t great but he took a huge charge early in the fourth quarter that stopped a Nuggets fast break. It’s great to have a guard like Shead who can lead the second unit with ease.

B

J. Mogbo14 MIN, 6 PTS, 3 REB, 1 AST, 0 STL, 1-2 FG, 0-1 3FG, 4-4 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, 2 +/-

Good defensive work pretty much all night. Nothing crazy on offence, but the defence was great. Quiet game on paper but he had a bigger impact on the court tonight.

B

J. Battle12 MIN, 4 PTS, 1 REB, 0 AST, 0 STL, 1-3 FG, 0-2 3FG, 2-2 FT, 1 BLK, 0 TO, 3 +/-

Great block on Dario Saric early in the second quarter. Picked up some unnecessary fouls during his first shift. After checking in the third quarter, Battle played beautiful defence on Murray forcing a help block from Boucher at the rim and then made a great backdoor cut on the offensive end for an easy two. Just like Mogbo, the stats look quiet but he was impactful tonight.

F

D. Carton03 MIN, 0 PTS, 0 REB, 0 AST, 0 STL, 0-2 FG, 0-1 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, -3 +/-

A few minutes of run in the first half but there wasn’t much that stood out during his time out there. Not a fan of giving out incomplete grades unless its for garbage time so D.J. will have to take an unfair F.

A-

Darko Rajakovic

You can be critical of Darko’s tactics, but you can’t deny his energy and love for the team. He came charging in during the Barnes and Gordon scrap to make sure the situation didn’t escalate any further. Not a fan of the no time-out at the end because the Nuggets had more runners back on defence than the Raptors had offence going forward, but it’s not all on Darko as that’s a terrible shot decision by RJ. That was Darko’s lone mistake tonight as the rotations looked good all game long.