Raptors @ Clippers, Nov. 9 Takeaways: Quickley returns, Raptors lose execution battle late

Fernando's late cameo almost turns Toronto's fortunes around

Toronto dropped to 2-8 on the season with a 105-103 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.

In a game that came down to the final play, Jakob Poeltl secured his own rebound off a free-throw miss but couldn’t convert as the ball bounced a couple times off the rim but didn’t fall.

Immanuel Quickley made his return, Ochai Agbaji was excellent, and Bruno Fernando had a surprise late cameo that helped the Raptors take the game down to the wire after Ivica Zubac had his way in the first half.

Here are the game’s takeaways:

Quickley slow to start but finds rhythm

After playing just one pre-season game and the season opener, it was great to see Quickley return to action against the Clippers on Saturday night. As you’d expect, though, the 25-year-old wasn’t quite up to game speed out of the gate.

While Quickley operated well and looked good process-wise on the offensive end, his timing was off around the basket and missed some shots you’d expect to fall as he finds his rhythm. He was 2-for-6 in the first half but it was obvious it was apparent this was just about finding his flow.

That came in the second half, where Quickley shot 6-for-12 from the field including a huge 3-pointer to tie the game with 39 seconds remaining.

Quickley was on a minutes restriction, playing 15 minutes to Davion Mitchell’s 17. Jamal Shead saw five minutes of court time.

Agbaji starring in role

Ochai Agbaji let it go with zero hesitation and, as a viewer, you are starting to expect his corner triples to fall. It did, and as the Clippers called timeout, Agbaji made his way over to the bench and let out one of those exhales that players only release when they know they’re feeling it.

Agabji finished the game with 21 points, seven rebounds, three assists, and two steals while shooting 9-of-14 from the field including 3-of-6 from deep. He is so clear about what he can and should be doing on the offensive end and it’s having a direct impact on his efficiency. Throw in defending both James Harden and Norman Powell throughout the game and this version of him is a quality 3-and-D player in the making.

There’s a long way to go in the season yet, but this early storyline has been one of the most fun ones in the Raptors’ development arc so far.

Opponents putting respect on Mr. Dick’s name

There is no greater sign of Gradey Dick’s growth than a clear change in opponent scouting reports. The Clippers used a committee approach against Dick, all of Kris Dunn, Derrick Jones Jr., Nicolas Batum, Norman Powell, and Amir Coffey spending time on him. Across all those defenders, though, one thing was consistent: they were on high alert to minimize his catches.

Still, Dick was able to create looks for himself despite the duress and show that he can very much be a tough shot maker.

Quickley’s return should make life that bit easier for Dick, and so it was great to see just how much of a priority Dick still was in the Clippers’ defensive plans. Coming into this season, consensus probably thought about the ways in which Scottie Barnes, R.J. Barrett, and Quickley can make life easier for Dick and provide him with as many open looks as possible, but Dick has improved so much he’s showing just how much easier he can make the game for those around him.

Look at this play below where both Powell and Jones Jr. are so worried about the threat of Dick that they deny him on the 3-point line and leave Quickley wide open for a layup. Now, part of that is a lack of execution on the scheme and Powell thinking switch and Jones Jr. not, but it’s Dick’s threat level that helps create the confusion.

Fernando steps in and steps up

This was not one of Jakob Poeltl’s greatest hits, although he did nearly make up for it with what would have been a brilliant intentional missed free throw at the very end that he rebounded and almost put back for the tie.

Going up against Ivica Zubac and the dreaded James Harden pick-and-roll action, Poeltl just didn’t have it for most of the night. The rebounding and rim protection was there, but Zubac was getting whatever he wanted in the matchup. Offensively, Poeltl was missing some of his trademark runners and hook shots around the basket and was just 1-for-6 from the field.

In search of a solution, Darko Rajakovic turned to Bruno Fernando. The Angola big man came in and, frankly, changed the game with his athleticism and physicality against Zubac. Such was the impact of Fernando that Zubac was only able to attempt one field goal in those final eight minutes and change, a contested miss.

Fernando altered other shots to go along with a couple strong finishes at the basket. Individual game plus/minus can often be misleading, but Fernando was full value for his plus-9 in nine minutes.

Rajakovic’s final play

With the Raptors trailing by three, Toronto ran a play that involved Poeltl receiving the inbounds for what would then be a screening hand-off or a pass to someone else based on what he read.

The Clippers initially had a foul to give and so did that the first time Poeltl caught the ball. Toronto then looked to stick with the same play, and L.A. made the logical decision of fouling a weak free-throw shooter and sending him to the line instead of risking someone take a potential game-tying shot.

Was this a commitment to the tank or poor attention to detail from Rajakovic? You can see Quickley immediately clutch his head knowing the Raptors had missed out on the opportunity.

Earlier, too, it was a bit frustrating to see Rajakovic call a timeout because he wasn’t happy about the Raptors’ poor effort getting back in semi-transition and conceding a layup, but Powell had fallen into the camera crew upon finishing the layup and the Raptors had a 5-on-4 with Quickley pushing the pace.

At the end of the day, this is a first-time NBA head coach and there are bound to be mistakes he makes and has to learn from. We talk about development from a player perspective but I find most discourse on coaches to be binary with people using moments like these to draw conclusions on a coach’s ceiling.

The focus of this season is development and that applies to the head coach, too.