RAPTORS REPORT CARD: Historic loss to Pistons wasn't Siakam's fault

The next Raptor to potentially move had a statement game

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That one hurt. It felt like everyone could see it coming, Toronto was going to be the team that would end Detroit’s historic losing streak. Masai Ujiri and Co. threw a wrench in the proceedings by making a blockbuster deal earlier in the day, but it only made the job tougher for the Raptors. The short-handed team went down by 10 points yet again, and couldn’t quite come back, even though it was one of the wilder finishes you’ll see. The Pistons escaped with a 129-127 win. Here’s the report card, with some new pupils ready to be marked after Monday’s game against Cleveland:

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A PASCAL SIAKAM

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Other than a quiet start, Siakam was dominant. Once he got going, Detroit was powerless to stop him, no matter what they tried. It’s not easy to score 20 points in a quarter, even though Siakam made it look pretty simple. To do this and play 40 minutes a night after playing 41 made this even more of a signature Siakam game. Not to mention he had to battle the emotions of losing a good friend in OG Anunoby and surely realizes he could be heading out the door from the only franchise he’s only known next.

A GARY TRENT JR.

This is what Trent needed to show, either to the Raptors, who will have to decide if it makes sense to keep starting him with Immanuel Quickley and RJ Barrett arriving, or to teams considering making a deal for him. Trent will be a free agent this summer, but is also young enough to make sense long-term in Toronto. That said, he’d ideally be a backup on a good team, not a starter, but has shown himself as a Raptor to be far more effective when he starts. Like in this one, when he went 6-for-9 from three and also handed out four assists. Trent also looked much like the Trent of two seasons ago on defence, the guy who was all over the passing lanes. He had four steals and lots of deflections. If he sticks around he might be well-suited to start alongside Quickley with Barrett and Schroder becoming tremendous reserves. Or maybe Quickley stays in his microwave role for now (he was second in Sixth Man of the Year voting last year) but just gets a serious uptick in minutes, even as a reserve. We’ll see.

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B+ DENNIS SCHRODER

Temporarily put back in the starting lineup, Schroder responded with one of his best offensive games of the season. He hit 11-of-18, handed out nine assists and committed only one turnover. Nobody could guard Cade Cunningham, so can’t pin it on Schroder alone, but he had no answers. Ideally Schroder would not be taking more than 10 shots, let alone close to 20, but this was a weird one.

B- SCOTTIE BARNES

Barnes took a while to get going but made his mark late in a bit of a throwback to many of his earlier games this season. Barnes will miss Anunoby and Precious Achiuwa, two of his closest friends on the team and this was surely a shock. He hasn’t gone through a big deal like this before. It’s an adjustment. He also played heavy minutes the night before. Yet he had a lot in the tank late.

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B+ THAD YOUNG

Credit the veteran for shaking off a lot of built up rust to provide needed minutes. Not only that, Young provided quality minutes. He’s played some centre late in his career and had to do it again in this one.

C JAKOB POELTL

Poeltl did great work on the boards and had four assists, but only one basket. He was outplayed by impressive young Piston Jalen Duren, but we’d expect to see a much better Poeltl moving forward. Quickley is going to be an ideal fit for more than just Barnes. He projects to help Poeltl out a ton with his pick-and-roll brilliance. Quickley will draw in defenders and Poeltl will be a beneficiary. He has great hands and will get a lot of easy buckets.

D JALEN MCDANIELS

Given another chance because the roster was so short-handed, McDaniels did himself no favours. He struggled mightily on both ends of the floor. It’s hard to see him playing much for the new-look Raptors unless Otto Porter Jr. and/or Chris Boucher are moved.

INC: OTTO PORTER JR., CHRIS BOUCHER,

THREE STARS

1 Cade Cunningham

2 Pascal Siakam

3 Gary Trent Jr.

HM: Dennis Schroder, Jalen Duren

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