It is officially Monday, March 23rd, and the Raptors are in Utah to play the Jazz. This is the second night of a back to back, which people like to call a SEGABABA because humans enjoy making simple things sound like a fermented dairy drink. Immanuel Quickley and Jakob Poeltl are both ruled out, which means the starting lineup might look like a collection of people you would see waiting for a bus on Lawrence Avenue.
Darko Rajakovic mentioned recently that the team lacked urgency and respect for their opponents. It is a strange thing to lose, respect. You usually find it right next to your car keys or that specific remote for the soundbar you never use. Without it, you just end up watching a lot of missed rotations while sitting in a very expensive chair.
The Ja’Kobe Development
Despite the losing, Ja’Kobe Walter has been playing quite well over the last three games. He is hitting three pointers and playing point of attack defense with the kind of energy I usually only reserve for trying to find a parking spot at STC. His shooting splits are looking incredible lately (which is nice because basketball is mostly about putting a ball through a circle).
It is refreshing to see a young player actually make shots. Sometimes watching this team feels like watching someone try to put a duvet cover on by themselves: lots of effort, but everything ends up lumpy and inside out. Ja’Kobe seems to have figured out where the corners of the duvet go.
Scottie and the Stat Sheet
Scottie Barnes has reached a milestone that sounds like a math problem your nephew would ask you for help with. He now has 30 career games with multiple steals and multiple blocks, which is the third most in franchise history. He is behind only some people who played here when the jerseys had dinosaurs on them, and I think that says something about our collective progress as a species.
He just does things on the court that make you blink a few times. It is like seeing a guy at a gala wearing a tuxedo with Crocs: it is confusing, but he is clearly the most comfortable person in the room. We are going to need that comfort in Utah, especially with half the roster currently in street clothes.
The game starts at 9:00pm on Sportsnet. Utah is a place with very high elevation and very many mountains. I wonder if the players ever look at the mountains and think about how small they are (the players, not the mountains). Probably not, they are likely just trying to remember where they put their respect.