- Missing two of their biggest offensive weapons in Andrea Bargnani and Leandro Barbosa, the Toronto Raptors somehow managed to cruise to a 21-point victory over the New Jersey Nets. As broadcaster Matt Devlin noted, the 21-point lead with just over five minutes to go was the Raptors' largest lead over an opponent this season. And they held on to make it the final margin of victory.
- The Raptors finished with their first winning record on a road trip of five games or more since 2001. Yes, we had to take it back to the glory days of Vince Carter and Antonio Davis to find a Raptors team that had a better showing on an extended road swing. The Raptors improved to 5-9 on the road (they won all of six games on the road last season).
- Dwane Casey decided to shake things up with a small-ball starting lineup of Jose Calderon, Jerryd Bayless, DeMar DeRozan, James Johnson and Amir Johnson. And it paid dividends early as the Raptors finished the opening frame tied at 24.
- DeRozan displayed an aggressiveness rarely seen from the third-year pro. He dropped an efficient 27 points on just 12 shots while getting to the line a career-high 16 times. If someone could figure out how to coax that type of effort out of DeRozan on a nightly basis, I'm sure the Raptors organization would pay you a lot of money.
- For the Nets, it was Deron Williams and little else. Williams took 20 shots to score 24 points and looked annoyed (to say the least) as he watched the minutes tick away during garbage time. Anthony Morrow was the only other Net in double figures.
- Thankfully, the Nets' scorching three-point shooting from the last time these two teams faced each other didn't carry over to this contest. The team that will soon call Brooklyn home was just 7-for-22 from outside.