In the first game after the All-Star, the Hornets who played at home went on a killing spree, leading by 41 points at one point, and finally defeated the Raptors 125-93, stopping the previous three-game losing streak.
Statistics
Lamelo Ball had 13 points, five rebounds and six assists, Terry Rozier had 23 points, nine assists and zero turnovers, Miles Bridges had 11 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists, Kelly Oubrey had 23 points, and Monterrez Harrell had a double-double of 20 points and 10 rebounds.
For the Raptors, rookie Scotty Barnes had 28 points and five rebounds, Gary Trent had 12 points, and "birthday guys" Fred VanVleet and Pascal Siakam had 8 points each on 6-of-25 shooting.
Game review
Raptors starting no. 3 OG Anunoby entered the injury list due to a fractured right ring finger, and Nick Nas arranged for Birch to start and put on a tall frontcourt. After the opening, the Home Hornets got into shape significantly faster, the ball worked very well, and with Plumlee's rebounding protection, they quickly made a 9-2 start.
The Raptors hurried to timeout the adjustment, but after returning, the score was further stretched to 13-2, until rookie Barnes scored two goals in a row on the inside, and only slightly stopped the decline. In the second half of the first quarter, Harrell brought extra energy to the Hornets, and Oubre and Cody Martin, who had just returned from injury, also hit three points to help the team continue to seize the double-digit lead. 0.9 seconds before the end of the first quarter, Siakam made a foul and walked to the free throw line, hitting both of them to make the score 19-28.
After the start of the second quarter, both sides were in full swing at the same time, and the scoreboard was constantly renovated until Washington and Rozier grabbed the counterattack and hit back-to-back three-pointers, and the scene was further unbalanced, forcing the Raptors, who were 29-45 behind by as many as 16 points, to apply for a timeout again.
The plot that followed was the same as in the first quarter, with the Hornets extending their advantage to 20 points after a timeout, before Barnes used his personal impact to avoid widening the points. In this quarter, the No. 4 show this year scored 12 points on 6-of-8 shooting, but the Hornets defended all the other players except him, and the former teammates Harrell and Rozier on the offensive end blossomed inside and outside, and by the end of the half, the score had become 70-47.
After the halftime, the Raptors' struggle continued, and the Hornets had no intention of sparing them, Plumlee made two dunks, setting off an 18-0 rampage, and the point difference was quickly stretched out to 40 points, giving the game a quarter and a half ahead of suspense. Barnes and Achuva played consecutive insides to narrow the gap to 36 points by the end of the third quarter, but it had no effect on the entire game.
At the start of the final quarter, the two sides still had some starters on the court, but the Raptors did not have two core Players, VanVleet and Siakam, on the floor, representing that they had recognized the game into garbage time. After 12 minutes of routine, the score was fixed at 125-93.
Both sides started
Raptors: VanVleet, Trent, Barnes, Siakam, Birch
Hornets: Pol, Rozier, Bridges, Washington, Plumlee