Jakob Poeltl was a man amongst boys, scoring 24 points and cleaning the glass with 12 boards to lead the Toronto Raptors to their third consecutive win on Friday night, 108-97 against the visiting Charlotte Hornets.
Poeltl’s efficient 12-of-14 effort from the field led him to his 22nd double-double of the season. Immanuel Quickley scored 19 points on 6-of-15 from the field and got his teammates involved, handing out nine dimes, while Scottie Barnes filled up the stat sheet adding 18 points, six rebounds and six assists. Jamal Shead tied a career high with 17 points for the Raptors.
Mark Williams led the Hornets with 18 points and 12 rebounds on a perfect 9-of-9 shooting. DaQuan Jeffries put up 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting, while KJ Simpson added 14 points as the Hornets lost their fourth straight game and received some tough news before tipoff.
Star guard LaMelo Ball will be sidelined for the rest of the season with a right ankle impingement, and will also undergo a minor wrist procedure, the team stated Friday. Ball finishes his fifth season with Charlotte with a career-high average of 25.2 points in 47 games. This is the second year in a row his season has been cut short.
Miles Bridges could not find his stroke and was a huge factor in the Hornets’ offensive struggles. Usually, one of the team’s most potent scorers, Bridges was held to just 11 points on a disastrous 4-of-20 shooting.
The Raptors led by two, 49-47, at halftime. After falling behind briefly in the third quarter, Poeltl’s layup with 8:17 left in the frame put the Raptors ahead by the slimmest of margins, 61-60, and Toronto never looked back. The Raptors went on a extended 15-0 surge to re-establish a 12-point advantage, 72-60, on Barnes’ transition 3-pointer with 5:46 remaining.
That sequence was the turning point of the contest. Toronto relaxed ever so slightly, allowing Charlotte to crawl back within single digits and led by as many as 15 points in the fourth quarter.
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The Raptors made 42 of 95 field goal attempts (44.2 percent) from the field and shot 14 of 44 (31.8 percent) from distance. The Hornets made 39 of 96 attempts (40.6 percent), while shooting a dismal 9 of 31 (29 percent) from beyond the arc.
After the Hornets took a 12-10 lead at the 7:18 mark in the opening quarter, the Raptors went on a 20-6 run to open up their first double-digit lead of the night. The run was capped with a 3-pointer by Barnes that put Toronto ahead 30-18.
Toronto’s momentum failed to carry over to the second, however. The Raptors went 1-for-11 from 3-point range in the frame, and after Charlotte got as close as one point, Toronto settled for a modest two-point at the break.
Both teams play Sunday. Charlotte travels to the ‘Big Easy’ to take on the New Orleans Pelicans, and Toronto travels to the ‘City of Brotherly Love, the face what is left of the Philadelphia 76ers.
