Fun and Good Highlight: A pair of plays from Raptors veterans

There were a lot of memorable highlights from this week in Raptor land — Fred VanVleet’s career-high 22 points, Pascal Siakam’s drive around a stiff-legged Kevin Love, Lorenzo Brown getting a dunk on the totally perplexed Cavaliers, Drake hitting up Tony Brothers with his Views, and more.

But I’d like to return to a pair of plays — one from last Thursday, the other from Saturday — that summed up this wild week (for me).

First, we get perhaps one of the pettiest dunks I’ve ever seen from DeMar DeRozan.

This was after, you guessed it, a call didn’t go DeRozan’s way against Cleveland, and he was understandably cheesed off. This was when the game was still very much up for grabs — and these points represented DeMar’s first of the game. I think we can all agree that we’d like to see this DeRozan respond to referee anger a bit more like this and a little less like whatever the hell happened in Philly yesterday.

DeRozan’s slap of the ball towards the ref, in just abject disgust with the entire profession, is so perfect. I wish I could bottle that moment up and use it to perfume my condo.

Moving on to number two: Jonas Valanciunas. Draymond Green. The Pump Fake.

Draymond Green is the NBA’s reigning Defensive Player of the Year. He received this award because of the organizing effect he had on his entire team’s defensive schemes last season. The Warriors have an historic offense, the very best in the league, but their defense is also world class, and Green’s presence is a big reason why.

Setting all that aside, on a basic level, Draymond is really good at standing between the guy with the ball and the basket.

Until, that is, he met: the Jonas Valanciunas Pump Fake.

Honestly, I think Draymond should have to give the award back now.