Behind the Boxscore: Toronto on its mark

GOOD MORNING PEOPLE!!

Toronto 127, Brooklyn 125

It was absorbing to watch Toronto respond to Brooklyn’s action, its commitment. Nights like this are Kyle Lowry’s sorta gig.

He didn’t ring the game-winner, that was Kawhi Leonard’s to bank, but the burst we’ve come to recognize within Lowry had its curve returned.

Lowry got into it, four-personal-fouls-“into it,” 13 points and three three-pointers and zero turnovers and seven assists and all those Kyle Lowry Defensive Rebounds.

Brooklyn doesn’t back down, though, Shabazz Napier was crucial (4-4 from the field) and Allan Crabbe rang six three-pointers. The team made 49 percent of its threes.

The Nets hit in waves and waves don’t take any plays off. Not without all that sand to pound.

Marc Gasol was the biggest part of Toronto’s pull to start the fourth quarter, he absolutely ate Ed Davis’ lunch on his way toward 16 points off the bench.

Six boards, some passing, Marc Gasol:

Toronto was on it.

Patrick McCaw delighted in grabbing passes from Gasol and others, things haven’t been so easy since Steph was around. Leonard finished with 30 points and Serge Ibaka (18 points and 12 rebounds, two blocks) was no slouch as a starter ahead of Gasol.

Brooklyn copped a zone for long stretches and it worked, D’Angelo Russell kept all of us in it with 28 points and 14 assists and Joe Harris hit seven three-pointers, but, nope.

Not in Toronto.

Raptors: 42-16, Nets: 29-29

Indiana 99, Charlotte 90

The Hornets have no help for Kemba Walker (34 points, nine rebounds) these days, none, Jeremy Lamb has tailed off and Marvin Williams was drafted ahead of Chris Paul (who is old).

Indiana ran its usual at home, sprung out to an early lead that the bench (Domantas Sabonis up front, Tyreke Evans all around) turned into something fiercer.

Myles Turner (18 and eight rebounds, three blocks and three steals) was cheerful with Al Jefferson in attendance (for only the first half; Big Al had big stuff to get to in Indianapolis on a Monday night), T.J. Leaf got a dunk and Thad Young (six assists) presided over the length of his reach (which is infinite).

Charlotte had its way on the offensive glass but the Pacers are used to this, Indiana didn’t settle for crummy shots or even so-so looks and the IND D was superb.

The Pacers started recent signee Wesley Matthews at shooting guard, he only shot 2-10 but the pickup will help:

Wes will finish your broken play. Matthews doesn’t care about his shooting percentage, so he’ll fit right in with the Pacers.

Pacers: 38-19, Hornets: 27-29

Minnesota 130, L.A. Clippers 120

The Wolves ran exemplary D when it had to on Monday, early and late and nothing in between, Luol Deng was masterful.

With Garrett Temple in the starting lineup and Landry Shamet rising off the Clipper bench these hours, L.A. has to run sets, has to seek out plays from start to finish. That’s fine, it’ll help in March, but the Clippers never really broke up (in a good way) until the second half, until Lou Williams started tearing it up.

His tipple was free throws, Lou dripped 16 of them in 16 tries and finished with 45 points in the loss.

(Click on the ‘LAC’ option all you can, League Pass users.)

The Wolves were too strong to counter, though, especially at home. Derrick Rose had a bunch of points but I’m going to try to not mention him again for the rest of the regular season.

Timberwolves: 26-30, Clippers: 31-27

Denver 103, Miami 87

The Heat never had a chance in this, after working in Oakland on Sunday night. The Golden State-to-Denver back-to-back was unfair even back when both teams were tanking for Tony Battie, even gnarlier now that the pair seems well on its way toward a white hot Western Conference finals.

Once Denver got its touch back and the Heat opened the second half with a rash of turnovers, the game was gone, the Nuggets just railed on ‘em.

Malik Beasley dunked.

Nuggets: 38-18, Heat: 25-30

Milwaukee 112, Chicago 99

Look at this:

Like he’s on the pitcher’s mound. Like people are really interested in what’s coming out from up there. He does it all the time.

Chicago was quick quick quick on both ends, the Bulls ran terrible on offense and the bench is hideous (beyond the agreeably nutty length of Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot and his bad basketball shots), yet the home team worked its tail off.

The Bucks kept the Bullies at arm’s length throughout, MKE missed too many three-pointers and were a little late on some of Chicago’s offensive rebound taps but that was about it.

Milwaukee’s defense was superb: Kris Dunn and Lauri Markkanen missed 23 of 30 field goal attempts, Zach LaVine picked up 27 but he also took Zach LaVine Shots.

Giannis Antetokounmpo didn’t save Milwaukee from its first back-to-back losses of the season because this win was never in question. His pin-point forward position picked off Buck after Buck down the stretch, the bustle scored 29 in the contest, adding 17 rebounds.

Bucks: 42-14, Bulls: 13-44

Oklahoma City 120, Portland 111

Paul George does what he can, that’s the thing that MVPs do.

This guy delights in turning a dreary back-and-forth into something bigger, he picked up on the dead action early and spun the Blazers into a loss.

He made a memory outta Mo Harkless.

Nobody could hang with him, the screaming would settle and George would size up Al-Farouq Aminu in front of him and decide, nah, this wasn’t going to work.

George finished with 47 points, 10 assists and a dozen rebounds. He’s still figuring out what he can do, at age 28, with flips and feints that should carry over wonderfully into postseason play. This is free throw equity, babies.

The Thunder surprised the visitors with OKC’s insistence on either end, but even on an off night (C.J. McCollum missed 15 of 20 shots, Damian Lillard only built something slightly better, Jusuf Nurkic was not a factor) Portland had the horses to keep a game going.

The Blazers (read: Dame) got to the line and crashed the offensive glass and generally hung around, alternating fits of sloppy and good.

The Thunder has its options, though, rookie Deonte Burton (18 points on nine shots) was a Gerald Wilkins-sized dervish and Raymond Felton (15 points on 10 shots) stepped away from the Golden Tee long enough to offer his own brand of insight.

Thunder: 37-19, Trail Blazers: 33-23

Detroit 121, Washington 112

Detroit just pushed the Pistons around, canvassing the offensive glass and butting into scores. Wizards center Thomas Bryant is 6-10’ish and has his charms, but he was no help for the visitors in this pinch.

Andre Drummond locked into 32 points, traipsing through the Lilliputians, he grabbed 17 rebounds and lapped at four steals. Blake Griffin even got nine rebounds, it was rough out there for a floppy Wizard.

Griffin (31 points, nine assists) also locked in from the outside (four threes on ten attempts, which was plenty, Blake) enough to make Washington look even worse.

The visitors kept a game of it until the end, sadly.

Bradley Beal (32 points and 10 dimes) would not let Washington get blown out again and Trevor Ariza administered an exceptional basketball game — 23 points, seven rebounds, five assists, two steals, a block. He had a pulse, defensively, when no other Wizard wanted to even talk about it.

Bobby Portis hit six three-pointers for Washington, finishing with 24 points.

Jabari Parker missed all his shots but also all of his free throws.

Pistons: 26-29, Wizards: 24-33

Cleveland 107, New York 105

The game you’d expect, Collin Sexton missed two-thirds of his shots and Kevin Love (14 and nine rebounds in 16 minutes) didn’t play in the second half. You wouldn’t want to dip your toe in this.

DeAndre Jordan forced a hug onto Brandon Knight to begin the night.

Knight started and finished with nine points on five shots in 15 minutes. Marquese Chriss came off Cleveland’s bench and offered 14 points and seven rebounds, but he was not good. Chriss was dunked on by Mario Hezonja, and Cedi Osman sat with a sprained ankle.

Knick reserve Kadeem Allen (25 points) got some good licks in but nobody could stop the Cavs. Cleveland’s execution was superior to New York’s, so, put that on your paperweight.

Things got a little hairy (on the shoulders) with Knick center Mitchell Robinson around to shake the paint, he’d finish with eight points and 10 rebounds and a block in 23 minutes.

The injury-cribbed Luke Kornet has been easing himself into this rotation since February began and he nailed two threes to make a game out of this down the stretch. Yet Luke didn’t have the legs to succeed on a wide-open three with the Knicks down two and 21 seconds left.

John Jenkins and Dennis Smith also earned three-point chances for the win in the final seconds, but the Knicks pick their heroes properly, every attempt clunked and New York lost.

The Knicks have lost 17 straight, executing quite well as it turns out.

Cavaliers: 12-45, Knicks: 10-46

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