RAPTORS POSTCAST: Quickley and Poeltl SHINE, Raps wake up after slow start for win vs. Wizards

0:00It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. This is Nick Gangsta with the Lockdown Mavericks Podcast. This message is a paid partnership with Apple Card. I love that I can run up to 3% daily cash back on every purchase of my Apple Card, which can be automatically sent to my high yield savings account through Apple Card right in the wallet app. With my iPhone, I can use Apple Card with Apple Pay basically everywhere I go. You can apply for Apple Card too, right in the wallet app on your iPhone. Subject to credit approval, savings is available to Apple Card owner, subject to eligibility, savings in Apple Card by Goldman Sachsbank, USA Salt Lake City Branch member FDIC, terms and more at AppleCard.com. Oh, Joey, another day, another bus delayed. Look on the bright side. You can finally catch up on podcasts. You don't mind running late? What's your deal? What's my deal? I saved up Metro with no activation fees. I got one line 5G for just $25 a month, kept the phone I love, and a five-year prize guarantee for my talk text and data. Only $25.

1:00I'm going to Metro when we hop off. Get that mob at your money feeling only a Metro by T-Mobile. Just bring your number $30 first month and $25 after without a pay price guarantee exception supply. See site for details. The Raptors went into DC and figured it out late to get back in the wind column. Let's talk about it. This is the Raptors Postcast, your instant game reaction for the Toronto Raptors. Part of the Locked-On Podcast Network, your team, every day. Welcome this episode of the Raptors Postcast on the Locked-On Podcast Network. Now, the number one sports podcast network covering your team every day, coming to live after the Raptors 134-125 win against the Washington Wizards, on YouTube, Apple's Spotify and the Locked-On Podcast feed. I'm Sophie Shea, credential journalist covering the Raptors and the NBA for over two years with outlets like sports and that and Raptors Republic.

2:02And now I'm one of your humble hosts of the Raptors Postcast breaking down each and every game with you. And unfortunately, not with me today is the way notice aka Diner Dino, our professional basketball player and analyst, he is out hooping right now, so hopefully he'll be back with us next game. But on tonight's show, we are going to talk about how the Raptors did enough against the tanking Washington Wizards to get the job done. We're going to break down the very sweet connection between Emanuel quickly and Jakob Hurtle and how that made all the difference tonight for the Raptors. Then we'll wrap things up by handing out our player of the game. But to start things off, my takeaway from this game was it was a pretty juggle and high performance from the Raptors. And it made me think about one thing quite honestly. It was around this time last year, actually like a week from now today, when Shea Gildres Alexander dropped one of the coldest bars I've heard in quite some time. And it was on route to obviously winning MVP and leading SGA to leading OKC rather to a championship. And what Shea Gildres Alexander said after he had just put up his like 45th, 47th, 30 point

3:08game of that season, he was asked about how he's able to do it every night, night in a night out. And his response was my whole life is consistent. And it seems like a simple message, but the Raptors are trying to figure that out as a team. It was set on the broadcast today by Kayla Gray that RJ Bair was asked, what's the difference between between being a good team and a great team? And he said it's about being consistent. It's about doing it for 48 minutes. It's about doing it for as many games out of 82 games as possible. And we saw for the Raptors, especially coming into this, why that was such a concern, because they played two fairly quality games against the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs, two of the best teams, if not the best teams in the NBA, and the Raptors put themselves in positions. So when both those games, but ultimately weren't able to keep it together for 48 minutes, and didn't come out with those with wins. And so they were heading into this game with a lot of pressure about could they perform against a wizard's team that is obviously in the rebuild mode, and could they do it while

4:08finding a way to be consistent. Now you could argue that they weren't necessarily consistent in this game either, but you'd much rather see them continue to figure it out while winning games than not. So in this game, they problem solved enough to get out of it. There was a lot of miss shots early, quite honestly, but the thing with the Raptors always has been they generate good looks, but they don't necessarily always make them. And early on, that was the case, specifically for two guys in Scotty Barnes and RJ Barrett. They combined for six points in the first half, and then both of them together combined for 33 points in the second half. So they found their footing. Now it is worth mentioning that the wizards did help. I did mention they're rebuilding. You can go as far as to say they're tanking. They not only stunk it up in the third quarter, shooting 33% after coming into that half, having shot lights out in the first half on 60% shooting, but they hardly played their starters in the second half. If you look at the totality of this game, the law of Kulabali plays 23 minutes. Kishan George, I thought, was decent. He puts up 14 points in just 15 minutes. Tristan Hussovich, 19 minutes, Tray Johnson, 19 minutes, Bob Carrington, 20 minutes.

5:11And these were all guys that were lighting it up early on, helping the fact that helping the wizards hit those 10 threes they did in the first half. And why the wizards were able to lead by as many as 13 points early, why they were able to hold on to a three point lead at half time. So it goes without saying that the wizards did the Raptors a favor. Now maybe the Raptors were going to win and figure it out in the second half regardless. Ultimately, the wizards did play a part in it. And that is something that is worth noting. They still got some good performances from the young guys. Shout out, Will Riley, Kitchener's finest. He ends up playing 34 minutes in this game, puts up 19 points for them on six of 10 shooting. He's a guy who obviously hopefully you want to see develop and maybe is playing a role for the Canadian national team at some point. But in this game, in the NBA, the Raptors ultimately did a good job in the second half, specifically kind of quelling that momentum that the wizards had going into half time. They got to the line plenty. The Raptors are, they need to get those freebie points, especially when they're losing the math battle. The wizards all end up making 16, 3s to the Raptors nine.

6:12Again, that disparity was much greater in the first half as well. So the Raptors were able to get to the line for 27 free throws to make 23 of them. They also in the second half, a big switch for them was defensively. They were able to, again, stop that efficiency that we saw from the wizards in the first half. We're talking about going from 60% shooting in the first half to 33 in the third quarter and just as bad in the fourth. Another part of it was generating points off turnovers, which we know is a big thing for the Raptors. They end up forcing the wizards into 14 turnovers for 20 points. The Raptors win the fast break battle, 18 to 5. They're able to generate good quality looks inside, especially in the second half. That's how you get guys at Garja Bear and Scotty Barnes going to work, necessarily doing it early on. And again, it's Jekyll and Hyde. It's not exactly what you want to see, especially when you see the Raptors down by as much as they were in the first quarter. But they ultimately win the following three quarters by 19 points. And at the end of the day, the Raptors are able to move ahead of Philly. They were already ahead of Philly, but they're able to extend their lead ahead of Philly in the playoff standings. They're now a game and a half ahead of Philadelphia for the fifth seed.

7:14And then up winning the season series against the wizards. And this series is kind of indicative of what the Raptors have been like for this season. They pumped the wizards by 30 points the first time they played. The second time they played, which was on boxing day, the wizards summarily handed it to the Raptors. And that's why this game was going to be important for them, all right? Were they going to end up playing down to their competition and get themselves in a hole they can't dig themselves out of? And the Raptors for their part were able to figure it out in the second half. Part of it, again, was limiting the three point shooting. The wizards end up hitting 10 threes in the first half on 50% shooting. In the second half, they only make six threes on 13 attempts. So there was a bit of defensive adjustment there from the Raptors. Some of it you can say was shot variance as well. But this was one of those things where Jack Armstrong said on the broadcast, when you look back at it in a couple of weeks or a couple of months with a have you, you're not going to necessarily think about how the Raptors got the job done. They were able to win it. I've said it before, it doesn't have to be a Picasso. Now, like within the game, you obviously want to speak about how the Raptors are still searching for consistency.

8:18And you did necessarily get it out of this one. But like I said, you'd rather see it coming out of wins than losses. And for the Raptors to muck up this game in the second half, get enough shots to fall down and end up ultimately coming out of this with a victory heading into a tougher stretch of the schedule, where you next play against the New York Knicks. You know, you have the Minnesota Timberwolves coming up. You have the Houston Rockets coming up. These are all quality teams, whether they're going through their own ups and downs. So the Raptors have to pick up these kind of victories against teams that are much lower than them in the standings. So that was the positive side of it with a bit of a spin on what the Raptors can do to improve constructively. What else I wanted to talk about in this game, and we're going to talk about it on the other side of this break, is Emanuel Quikly and Jacopertel. That connection we've talked about wanting to see for so much of the season. We finally got a taste of it. We finally got a look of it. And it was what we were hoping for. So we're going to talk about that as we continue this episode of the Raptors' Post-Cast.

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11:23On game time fans can view the see the view from their seats and the all in price upfront. So there are no surprises come check out. And there are also zone deals where you choose a section, game time picks the seat, and you get to save big. Process is quick, intuitive, and stress-free from start to finish. So take the guesswork out of buying NBA tickets with game time. Download the app today, create an account, and use code Lockdown for $20 off your first purchase. That's code LOCKED0N for $20 off. So download the game time app today and remember, it's gametime.co.not.com. All right, as we continue this episode of the Raptors Postcast, be sure to check out Sean Woodley with Lockdown Raptors after the weekend to get more in-depth analysis of the Raptors 134-125 win. And what I want to talk about coming out of the break here is Emanue quickly and Yakka Pertles. Those two were stellar in this game tonight. Emanue quickly finishes with 27 points, 11 assists. It was, I believe, his 42nd game with five or more assists, the season, which is a career best.

12:27Yakka Pertles has 18 points, 10 rebounds, three assists, and three steals. He finished 7 of 7 from the field. It was his best game of this season, especially from after returning from injury. And why this connection was so important is you could just see immediately how much these two were empowering each other and making each other better. We've talked about how important Yakka is as a screening partner for Emanue quickly to get him going downhill and to get him into the paint more often. IQ was able to generate five free throws as well by getting into the paint and being more physical inside. And what Emanue quickly is able to get himself into the paint and get himself deeper into closer to the basket. It allows him to find passing opportunities that are simpler for him. And when he gets those easier reads, he is much more effective and confident in his passes. And you saw it right away for Emanue quickly. He had one of his first pass at this game, which I really enjoyed. He was above the break. He kind of pump fakes it. And he's able to zip it inside the Yakka Pertles for that interior finish. And on the other side of that connection at Yakka Pertles, what I love compared to CMB is

13:30there's much more confidence and much more efficiency in how Yakka Pertles finishes those interior passes. CMB is great, but you still figuring out that touch close to the rim, especially around NBA defenders. So Yakka kind of putting those like kind of dink and dumb passes into the basket is awesome. And Emanue quickly continued that connection with Yakka Pertles as the game progressed. In the second quarter, he had a nice pick and roll exchange with Yak, where he threw a bounce pass to Pertles. But not just that, he led him with that pass and it got him right inside. And arguably, quickly best pass of this game was the Brandon Ingram, where he hit his defender with that one two cross, got inside into the paint. And he was able to kind of whip that pass the left corner for Ingram for a triple. And the Raptors were able to gain some momentum out of that. And so quickly finishing with 11 assists on one turnover. I think a lot of that came by a guy like Yakka Pertle freeing quickly up and getting him going and getting him the juice and confidence to make those reads and make those passes. So that was awesome to see from his side of it. And again, Yakka Pertle, the interior finishing is really important for the Raptors team. The rebounding is really important for the Raptor team,

14:32especially while we don't know the status of Colin Murray both moving forward. Now you hope this is just a day-to-day thing. He still has that lingering thumb issue. He left after the game against the Spurs after just 50 minutes. He misses the game against the Wizards here tonight. We're going to have to see what a status is moving forward. It's bothered him for quite some time. Since he heard his thumb, I believe this was the ninth game he's missed. So we're going to see how the Raptors continue to manage it. So while they're still figuring out this center rotation and being healthy and also Scotty Barnes is the guy who struggled for a lot of this game. And I do think part of it is that he's also not 100% with his leg injury that he's dealing with. We're going to need Yakka Pertle to really step up here. And that's going to be quite the ask of him because we've mentioned before how a back injury can come and go. And we're going to see how he continues to respond. But if he can keep putting up efforts like this where he goes seven or seven from the field, four or five from the free throw line is super active on the glass, is active defensively. It's going to be huge for the prospects of the Raptors moving forward. And that's something you're going to want a lot more of. And if the bonus is that he also helps free up a manual quickly with all those

15:32screen assists, he sets for them. If you can free up a guy like Brandon Ingram who also had a decent night as well with 24 points and nine of 14 shooting, it's going to be really good for the Raptors hat court offense, which they have obviously massively struggled in for a lot of this season. So having him back can be maybe a catalyst for solving some of those issues. So I want to see a lot more of that connection moving forward. And another thing we need to keep an eye on. And I did mention it was Scotty Barnes and how healthy he can remain. Now, he did have a really good second half. I mentioned after him and Argy combined for six points for the first half. Scotty and Argy combined for 33 in the second half. But quite honestly, the eye test showed it. Scotty Barnes was laboring for a lot of this game. Even in that second half there, they go up against a wizard bench lineup. So the Raptors have a look claw back. Scotty's able to hit a couple turnarounds in the fourth quarter. He gets a little a couple dump off passes and transition and finishes them. But there was this one pass specifically where a man had quickly tried to throw an overhand pass to Scotty. And he could barely get off the floor to grab that ball.

16:33He ultimately does get it, put it back up for the reverse finish. And a couple plays later. He's in transition and he dunks the ball down, which was nice to see. But there's not that burst and pop you want to see from Scotty Barnes. And you know what kind of athlete he can be. I thought in the first half, specifically, Scotty was pretty flat on both ends of the floor. And after that game against the spurs, Dark Royakovich said that Scotty was basically playing on one leg in that game. So we're going to have to see if he can stay healthy. And if they need to consider maybe changing things up for him giving him a night offer too. Obviously, this is easier said than done based on the impact that Scotty Barnes can have. But if you look at the starters, he was a plus three. The rest of them were all higher than that. I know plus minus isn't everything. But it was clear that Scotty Barnes wasn't at 100% in this game. So coming out of it, one of the things I do want to keep an eye on is how they're going to manage him moving forward. And if Scotty Barnes is going to be able to recover, they get two days off before they take on the mix. So hopefully he can have some rest and be back to the Scotty Barnes that we know and love.

17:34But now I think it's time that we hand out our player of the game before we wrap this up. This is the Lockdown Player of the Games. I guess that a lot of quality performances, especially from the starting lineup, all five starters score at least 18 points or more. But I'm going to go with the manual quickly. 27 points, 11 rebounds, he finishes a plus seven, five of five from the line. Now we only go two of seven from downtown, but he was able to get inside a lot more freely and be a lot more aggressive. He set a career high in assist for a season. I believe he has over 336 assists now. That's the most he's had in a season. He's averaging a career high in assists with almost six game with the Raptors. Some of that is the Raptors scheme and system. But some of that is a man you quickly figure out some of this point guard stuff. At least in this game against a wizard's team that is younger and maybe not as a connected defensively. A manual quickly was able to take advantage of it.

18:34He was able to get his own opportunities off the score. I felt like specifically in the first half, he was providing a lot of energy for the Raptors that otherwise were pretty darn flat while they were down as many as 13 points when the wizards were bombing everything from three. So his energy and enthusiasm in that first half was really important. And then he got a guy like Yakka Perl going who by virtue of being able to move around more and have some juice got the rest of the Raptors going when he got like Brandon Ingram as well. So manual quickly shout out to him one of his better games of the season. He'd been kind of on fire basically since the end of January. I know he didn't have a great shooting night tonight going to seven. But in his last 15 games it's kind of shooting over 48% from three. And the Raptors we've already talked about how they do not shoot three as well. Even in this game like his two threes were tied for the most by any Raptor in this game with Jameson Battle and Jacobi Walter. So the Raptors continue to need his three point shooting as well. But if manual quickly can leverage that shooting gravity to then do other things as a floor general

19:38like getting inside to generate free throws or getting inside to generate kickout passes and then guys can hit those consistently. Then you're talking about a point guard that's bending defenses and impacting the game beyond just his own numbers. And that's exactly what the Raptors need more of. That's why I got like Jamal shed has been so vital for the Raptors off the bench. Even though like he's your backup point guard there's times where you're like wow I would really want to see Jamal shed had the ball in his hands over IQ because of those point guard equalities. Now if IQ can start demonstrating some of those with his pull up shooting which obviously got like Jamal shed doesn't have right now at the NBA level then we have a quality player and you start to see what the Raptors saw in a manual quickly with his ceiling. Now ultimately time will tell if you can do that consistently and that was the kind of the theme coming into this episode of the podcast was consistency. Can the Raptors do it consistently for 48 minutes? Can they do it for the closing stretch of the season? 70% of the seasons over if they're going to be in a playoff position or if they're going to try to make any noise in the playoffs it's going to have to be through consistency. It's going to be by winning minutes as much as possible through a full 48.

20:40So that is going to be the test for them moving forward. But for now they come out of this kind of ugly game with a win and we take that nonetheless. But that'll pretty much do it for us tonight. For myself Sophie shake thank you to everyone who tuned in live and for those listening in the morning after. If you haven't already make sure you like and subscribe to Lockdown Raptors on all platforms and don't forget to comment below if you have any thoughts on the Raptors 134-125 win. But we'll be back on Tuesday hopefully with our resident pro Dwayne notice live after the Raptors host the New York mix trying to make up some ground in the Eastern Conference. But we will see you then breaking it all down on the Raptors postcast. Peace. Snoring, gasping during sleep, feeling fatigued, wake up to Zeppbound to Zepatide. The first and only FDA approved prescription medicine for moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea, OSA and adults with obesity. Zeppbound is an injectable prescription medicine that

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23:46for my talk text and data. Only $25. I'm going to Metro when we hop off. Get that mob or your money feeling only a Metro by T-Mobile. Just bring your number $30 first month and $25 after without a pay price guarantee exception supply. See you side for details.