Ja'Kobe Called Game

 I love when an exciting game happens the night before when I was running out of ideas on what to write about, just gave me a nice built in excuse to talk about the Raptors. I am calling it right now, that was the game of the year for the Raptors. The other contender was the OT win against the Kings on Vince Carter jersey retirement night, but that didn't have the comedic appeal that this one had. With back to back wins over the Magic, I do have lots to talk about so lets get right into it. 

Raptors Needed That One

I know, I know, "we're tanking, we don't need any wins!" But hear me out here. For the entire game, the Magic were playing like thugs. In the first quarter Jonathan Mogbo exited the game with a face contusion after taking a Magic elbow to the face, the first transgression. By the third quarter, the Magic were just throwing bodies around trying to beat the Raptors up. Franz Wagner gave a flagrant foul by bashing RJ Barrett across the head for literally no reason. Literally less than a minute later Ja'Kobe Walter gets shoved by a Magic player after the whistle was blown, on this one Jakob Poeltl finally had enough and shoved the player back. Cool to see the vets having our rookies' backs. After the Ja'Kobe shove, the Raptors went on a tear. Scottie was doing a little bit of everything and playing the way people beg him to, getting downhill and using his physicality. Despite the 41 points from Paolo, Scottie also did a great job keeping him in check, a lot of his damage came later in the game which trust me, we will get to. 

RJ Barrett was incredible in this one and probably should've recorded a triple double. Despite the Magic bumping him and bashing him at every opportunity, RJ got to the rim repeatedly and either drew a foul or got the bucket. He did a good job knocking down his 3s as well going 3/6 from deep. I will say that the focus of RJ's offseason absolutely needs to be free throw shooting. RJ got to the line 9 times, and he earned those trips through sheer determination to get downhill, but when he got there he only sunk 4 of them. This has been a consistent theme for RJ who's now shooting under 65% from the line. If he can get himself up to just a 75% free throw shooter then his efficiency stats look a lot different. Anyway, I wanted to highlight RJ's defensive improvements as well, he did a great job on Franz for basically the entire game including a sequence where Franz tried to isolate against RJ but RJ rose up and blocked Franz' mid range attempt leading to a fast break. When the team is fully (or almost fully) healthy, RJ has less offensive responsibility and I really have noticed his effort level pick up on the defensive end, which should be encouraging for Raptors fans. All of this was the first 3 quarters of basketball where as you can tell from my tone, the Raptors played great! Then the call came in. 

The 4th Quarter Tanking Madness

The Raptors are getting really creative with their tank. The first lever they pulled came early in the 4th quarter when Jakob Poeltl hit his arbitrary minutes restriction and had to sit. It's worth noting he played 26 minutes in the last game and just 24 this game, so clearly the restriction is higher than 24, but I digress. The second lever the Raptors pulled was having Jarred Rhoden and AJ Lawson both out there for nearly the entire second half. If you don't know who those guys are, you aren't alone, only a real hard core Raptors fan is zeroed in enough to recognize the 2 way guys that the team just recently signed. Even with that, Scottie and RJ were doing enough good things to maintain the lead and have it at 8 points with 5 minutes to go. At this stage, Darko pulls Scottie from the game and runs a lineup of RJ Barrett, Jamal Shead, Ja'Kobe Walter, AJ Lawson and Orlando Robinson. RJ Barrett in this stretch plays amazing basketball and single handedly keeps the team afloat by getting himself to the line multiple times and finding AJ Lawson for a clutch 3 with 2 minutes left. Seeing that RJ was carrying the team by himself, Darko pulls him as well and decides the last 2 minutes in a 2 possession game is going to be closed out with Jarred Rhoden with the 4 guys mentioned above. 

This is where things got hilarious. Paolo Banchero, now playing against all guys who have seen time in the G league this season, starts to get whatever he wants. He barrels through the entire Raptors team to get to the rim, then hits a clutch step back 3 to tie the game 108-108. Raptors get the ball back, Jamal Shead gets blocked at the rim, but on the ensuing inbound AJ Lawson catches the pass and rises up with a hand in his face and drills a tough 3 to make the game 111-108, unlikely shot #1. Paolo dances on the perimeter, steps back and nails a super tough 3 to tie the game again 111-111 with 33 seconds to go. Raptors don't score on the ensuing possession and Paolo gets fouled with 4 seconds to go, nails both free throws to give the Magic a 2 point lead. For the final shot, Darko stuck with the rookies and 2 ways drawing up a play for Ja'Kobe Walter. Ja'Kobe got the inbound, was smothered, rose up with his body contorted to get his feet behind the line, takes a fadeaway 3 pointer and swishes it. Raptors win!

Let me tell you, nothing made me happier than seeing Ja'Kobe nail that shot. Tanking and trying to lose on purpose really disgusts me. The draft and the lottery is there for actual bad teams to improve themselves, I feel like benching your starters at the end of a close game is the equivalent of a rich person going on welfare. Either lose because you're bad or win and deal with the "consequences" of winning, don't fake being bad. If I'm one of those young guys, I am doing everything I possibly can to come away with victories just to spite the front office' directive. The next 5 games are: Jazz, Wizards, Wizards, 76ers, Jazz. The Jazz are benching literally everyone, even their young players, in another shameless tank. The Wizards just suck regardless, the 76ers are now without Maxey, PG and Embiid, but they sucked even with them, it's going to be hard to lose even if you pull out nonsense like this. If this game is any indicator, we're going to see the weirdest basketball of all time over the next 2 weeks. 

Magic Suck

Last thing I have to touch on here, what on earth happened to the Magic? Early in the season I really liked this team, I can't remember but I bet I've written about them at least once or twice. They just dropped back to back games at home against a Raptors team that was practically begging them to win. At the end of this one the Magic were playing their absolute best lineup against the Raptors G-Leaguers and they still couldn't pull out a victory. My theory has been that Jalen Suggs is the heart and soul of that team and the #1 driver of winning similar to Lowry in the Raptors glory days, but honestly it might just be the absence of any other capable point guard. The Magic started Corey Joseph last night, in a game played in 2025. All due respect to Canadian and Raptors legend Corey Jo but if that's your starting PG in 2015 you're in trouble, let alone 2025. Franz and Paolo are doing their own thing and are super effective, but until that team gets some shooting and real play making, they are cooked. 

And that's that! Great, hilarious win last night. I was really frustrated watching the team actively trying to lose the game so seeing the rook pull this one out really warmed my heart. I don't wanna see nonsense like this ever again, but given the next stretch of games that might be wishful thinking. REGARDLESS, GO RAPTORS!