Jakob Poeltl has been playing some of the best basketball of his career.
Poeltl had 24 points on 11-for-18 shooting from the field, 11 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals in 32 minutes before fouling out of Monday’s 121-119 loss to the Denver Nuggets.
The Raptors looked like they were going to get a big win in Denver. They led by 6 late in the fourth, before Poeltl picked up his 5th and 6th fouls in a span of 23 seconds. With Poeltl out of the game, the Nuggets outscored the Raptors 14-8 down the stretch.
If Poeltl did not foul out, the Raptors probably would have won the game. He also had the difficult task of battling Nikola Jokic all game and held his own.
“I think Jak [Poeltl] did really good job he gave his best fight against him [Jokic], Jak was getting a really good job playing the pocket, connecting with his teammates, being active on boards as well. I thought overall he played a really good game against the best player in the world,” Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic said.
When Poeltl is locked in and hitting his shots in the paint, it opens everything else for his teammates.
One player who has been thriving with Poeltl in the two-man game is Gradey Dick.
“It’s great. I love playing in that two-man kinda pick-and-roll with Jak [Poeltl] and kind of build of that…I feel like when I’m coming off that you know there’s a lot of tension where I can get it to Jak and he makes great plays and he’s one of the most selfless players I’ve every played with so you know it’s great when we can play off each other like that,” Dick said postgame.
Poeltl notched his fourth double-double of the season. He has the most total rebounds in the league with 95 through 8 games.
Poeltl only played in 50 regular-season games last season and as a result the Raptors finished with a 25-57 record. With a healthy Poeltl, the Raptors are a much better team.
Don’t look at the team’s 2-6 record as an indication of that. The Raptors have been far more competitive than expected and could have come out victorious in some of these matches.
Poeltl acknowledged that the Raptors have made progress, but they still need to learn how to close out games.
“Every game on its own has things we can learn from. For tonight’s game for example execution down the stretch, figure out a good play for us to run and how to punish the defense, how to adjust to their adjustments on the fly when it comes down to the game being on the line,” Poeltl said.
Poeltl and the Raptors continue their season-long five game road trip on Nov. 6 against the Sacramento Kings.
Raptors share update on Scottie Barnes
Scottie Barnes has received some good news.
Barnes has undergone further testing on his fractured right orbital bone and it has been determined that surgery will not be necessary for the 23-year-old, Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic informed reporters in Denver on Monday night.
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