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The Toronto Raptors finished off their home preseason slate Wednesday night at the Air Canada Centre with a more than convincing 108-72 win over the Memphis Grizzlies.
Raptors HQ was not on hand for this game, so this will be a bit of an abbreviated recap ( hey, it's preseason for us too) but this contest was an impressive home finale for the Raptors as their starters really led the way, taking advantage of the longer leash they were granted by coach Dwane Casey, vastly outplaying the Grizzlies starters.
The most impressive part of the game from a Raptors perspective was the play of DeMar DeRozan, who continued his solid preseason play with an excellent showing. DeRozan scored 21 points on 6-of-11 from the floor and 8-of-9 from the free throw line.
The growth in DeRozan's game has been on full display in the preseason. He shown the ability to hit from the mid-range, a few from beyond the arc, and has been lethal in the paint and on the block. The continued progress in every part of his game has been the story of the preseason for the Raptors and should it continue, will be the reason why the team has successful this season.
Off of the pine, Austin Daye was the standout, scoring 14 points in 17 minutes on 5-of-6 shooting from the floor. While the Raptors bench has been their weak spot, games like this from Daye remind you that Toronto does possess a few potential weapons down the depth chart, it's just a matter of getting them going consistently.
Terrence Ross added 10 and back-up guard Dwight Buycks had perhaps his best game in a Raptors uniform, scoring eight points and dishing out two assists. Getting any sort of meaningful contribution from guys like Ross, Buycks and Daye will be paramount for this team if they expect to contend for a playoff position.
On the Memphis side of things, former Raptors Ed Davis 11 points, nine rebounds and two blocks in just 16 minutes. this was Davis' second game in Toronto as a member of the visiting team.
The Raptors will now head to Milwaukee for their matchup with the Bucks on Friday night. This will be the last game of the preseason for Toronto as they will have a bit of a layoff before opening the regular season at home against Boston next Wednesday.
expect the starters to play similar minutes in their final preseason game. Casey has said on multiple occasions that he is treating the last two preseason games more like regular season games, which means a tighter rotation and hopefully some better quality basketball.