The game was slow to start for the Raps, with bad passes, turnovers, missed shots, and fouls that led to the first points of the game coming from the line for San Antonio. The Spurs went on a 10-0 run before Ja’Kobe was able to answer, driven by his effort on the other end of the floor. Jamison Battle stepped up to help with scoring, but the Spurs’ maintained a double digit lead for most of the quarter, mostly due to the Raptors shooting, going 2-11 from distance and 6-20 from the field. They ended the quarter down to the Spurs 24-14.
To start the second, the Raptors got the bench unit some playing time trying to kick-start an offensive punch. Guerrier had a nice quarter, diving to the basket on an excellent cut and hitting a 3-pointer early. Unfortunately, to no avail. The Spurs extended their lead, going on a 14-2 run, taking advantage of a lack of defensive coverage in the paint. At the end of the frame, the Raptors were down 33-50.
Coming out of the locker room, many of the same issues continued, with turnovers, fouls, and missed shots providing the Spurs with extra possessions. Shead came alive in the frame, scoring in a variety of different ways, showing some of his versatility. As a whole, the team was still struggling and tried to utilize a full court press to win but some extra possessions but the Spurs’ scoring punch continued and they remained up 69-52 over Toronto.
In the final frame, Shead continued to help the offence, getting his own shots and finding Carlson for some paint points. Carton had a couple of bad turnovers to start the quarter but chipped in 9 points in the quarter as well. The Raptors were able to slowly diminish the lead and reduce it to single digits, but the Spurs were too strong and held on for an 11 point victory.
Shead started out cold, going 1-7 from the field, but salvaged the game in the second half, hitting 6-8 in the second half. He continues to show his ability to distribute the ball as well, finding his teammates for lobs and cuts, and can help generate offence late in the game. He doesn’t seem to give in regardless of the score, and his defensive effort was excellent.
DJ Carton is also showing some versatility, and as he earned more minutes on this Summer League squad, he found his rhythm. This game was the perfect example of what he’s
