Toronto Raptors: 6 Revelations for Game 2 victory over Wizards
By Demar Grant
4) C.J. Miles is streaking
Miles is 8-of-14 in the past two games and sank 4-of-6 on Tuesday night from beyond the arc, including this ridiculousness.
Regardless of how good the Toronto Raptors were over the past two years, they’ve never had a shooter like Miles. He’s streaky but the good type of streaky, 4-for-6 streaky (sometimes even 6-for-9 streaky), but can also hold you down shooting 3 of 8.
The 31-year-old will always be a good shooter, one that all teams fear, but when he’s hot, he’s moonwalking on the sun hot. If he can keep up this nuclear fusion heat, the Raptors are very hard to defeat.
The Raptors have survived this year being a volume 3-point shooting team, but if that volume can be refined efficiently they’re likely to put up 130+ points.
5) Fred VanVleet isn’t ready yet
We all want to see Vanvleet back on the court, but we want him to look like the ball of electricity he was during the regular season, not a pensive mouse we saw in Game 2.
Heading into Game 1 Raptors fans were nervous about missing the figurehead of the Raptors’ bench, but the Dinos pulled out the first Game 1 victory in 17 years. In Game 2, we rejoiced when we saw those immaculate waves stepping between the lines, undershirt and all.
FVV bounced around the court but never looked aggressive and rarely looked to score taking only one 3-point attempt in the two minutes he played. Casey pulled him and Steady Freddy never graced the court again.
The Wavemaster is a glorious backup point, but forcing him to run when he clearly looked unsettled is a fool’s errand.
The Raptors’ bench runs 12 deep so they don’t desperately need Vanvleet, yet. Casey and co. are best served gradually reintroducing VanVleet to the lineup, especially since he’s never played in the postseason before.