Hornets Coach Accepts Terms To Move Causing Instability Due To…

With four of its five best players out of the lineup as they were on Monday night, it’s difficult to get too excited about the Raptors’ victory over a Charlotte team that is awful on paper and bad even when playing at full strength.

Toronto won 114-99 despite falling behind by double-digits early yet again. The team’s best two players dominated, but the results for the rest of the Raptors were pretty mixed.

Siakam tried to play with the Hornets, as he usually does. In actuality, his 27 points were two fewer than his average of the previous five meetings with Charlotte. Including 11–16 on Monday, he has a video game-like 68% shooting percentage in those contests. Aside from that, Siakam was excellent. There was only one miss and no three-pointers for the first time in a long time.

Barnes was a close second in terms of who was head of the class. For much of the early going it seemed like only he, Siakam and Chris Boucher had any energy. Barnes was able to carry it throughout. He was robbed of a couple of spectacular blocks (they were called goaltends, but were close), and had a few too many turnovers — like a bunch of Raptors — but he was the most physical player on the floor and asserted his will on the Hornets.

Trent keeps displaying signs that he still has the player in him. Once more, we would like to see more Trent playing with the starting lineup (minus Dennis Schroder or Jakob Poeltl). When the Raptors try that, good things tend to happen. The Raptors needed those rebounds, though Trent may not have had the wherewithal to pull down 10 rebounds, his first double-double of the season (his father had three in his 13 Raptors games). Trent was playing with aggression, making shots, and earning close to a season-high amount of minutes.

We are sounding like a broken record, but Boucher needs some playing time. Good things have happened when he’s out there and that was the case again on Monday. On a team with too many players who sleepwalk through parts of games, Boucher’s non-stop motor is a major positive force. He was the last man called upon, but made his 15 minutes count.

Pretty good work from Achiuwa, with more positives than negatives. He might be getting into a groove, as solid performances seem to be coming more frequently. He really turned it on in the second half and helped the Raptors get the win.

A return to form after some wobbles. Schroder didn’t force shots and tried to get others involved. He wasn’t very good defensively and was horrible taking care of the ball early, but was much better the rest of the way. If the Raptors had more options at guard, he’d be playing the 25 or so minutes he should, instead of well north of 30.

Darko Rajakovic seemed to realize that Poeltl was not going to be well-suited for this matchup. Rajakovic pulled the big man following a barrage of earlier turnovers, which were mostly Schroder and Poeltl’s fault. For the second time this year, Poeltl played less than 20 minutes, and he was well-deserved to have only played 15 minutes. Just two rebounds, three fouls, and four turnovers is just drastically short of Poeltl’s potential. Had they not exchanged a first-round pick for him, the team would undoubtedly be considering his trade or starting him off the bench against centers who aren’t the biggest names in the league. There is proof that Poeltl doesn’t work with the starting lineup because the defense ignores him.