Looking back, the glowing reviews of Immanuel Quickley when he played his first game since Nov. 10 were a bit over-inflated.
In today’s world of over-reaction, it’s easy to rush to a conclusion, even though Quickley did make it look pretty easy when the Raptors played host to the Brooklyn Nets on New Year’s Day.
That familiar bounce to his game was noticeable, his boundless joy and smiling face were hard to ignore.
Quickley was getting into the lane, getting his teammates involved and providing some point guard prowess the team had been missing.
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An 11-game losing streak would end against the Nets and a 15-assist night with only one turnover committed from Quickley left some believing his play was sustainable.
The bump he provided was precisely what the reeling Raptors required.
Prior to his return on New Year’s Day, Quickley had appeared in three games this season and since his return from an elbow injury, he has played in five games.
The Raptors have lost four in a row and arrive in Detroit for a Saturday night tip having posted a 1-17 road record. Toronto has not won a road game since Nov. 27, when it took care of business in New Orleans against a porous Pelicans team.
At 8-30, only the Pelicans have lost more games and no team has suffered more road losses than the Raptors.
While Quickley’s return and his immediate impact were necessary, he isn’t going to suddenly transform a team.
He did rebound from a couple of below-average games against Orlando and Milwaukee when Quickley played his former team in the New York Knicks on Wednesday night.
The following night, the Raptors were in Cleveland, where the Cavs had just played a highly competitive game against the Oklahoma City Thunder that many viewed as a potential NBA Finals preview.
With Donovan Mitchell unavailable for the home side, Darius Garland emerged as the star, clearly outplaying Quickley in a battle of point guards.
Garland posted a 40-point, nine-assist game, while Quickley had a pedestrian 10-point, six-assist performance.
The Raptors played hard, for the most part played well and Quickley wasn’t the reason why another road win would prove elusive.
At the same time, he has to be better.
This exercise of assessing how Toronto’s core pieces and starting lineup fit as a unit sounds good in theory, but the key is Quickley and how he can operate with Scottie Barnes.
Against the Cavs, Quickley played off the ball. His skill is getting into the teeth of the defence and kicking out to shooters.
He can pull up in transition, but the Raptors need to rein in his shot selection from beyond the three-point arc.
During his five-game return heading into the Motown tip, Quickley has heaved 65 shots with 33 launched from distance.
In the two games against the Magic and Bucks following his New Year’s Day masterpiece, Quickley went 2-for-14 from beyond the arc.
He had a minus-26 rating in 30 minutes in the Milwaukee loss, a minus-13 in 30 minutes in Cleveland. A 4:1 assist-to-turnover ratio is elite, but consider he had a 15:1 ratio in his return, an outlier that did have the effect of raising expectations.
The truth is the Raptors don’t know what they’ve got in Quickley. They might think they do and their off-season investment, which had people in the NBA shaking their heads in disbelief, spoke to the franchise’s commitment.
Somewhere in between his showing against the Nets and his outing in Cleveland is probably where one will find Quickley’s game, which isn’t exactly ideal for the Raptors.
The team needs more from Quickley, who needs to take fewer three-point shots in the halfcourt.
Against Brooklyn, the Raptors showed they can play fast and smart when Quickley had the ball in his hands. The Nets aren’t good and then came two effortless outings against Orlando and Milwaukee. At least for the opening half in New York the Raptors competed.
A 132-126 loss to the Cavs reminded many of the early season setbacks when late-game issues could not be overcome, but at least the Raptors gave themselves a chance.
In a rebuild season, when accumulating the highest lottery odds for the draft, the loss in Cleveland could be tolerated.
Toronto bounced back and it’s time for Quickley to bounce back Saturday night.
Saturday also involves a battle of 2011 draft picks in Barnes and Cade Cunningham, who had 32 points, eight assists and six rebounds in a 107-104 loss to visiting Golden State on Thursday night that snapped Detroit’s five-game win streak.
Cunningham went first overall, while Barnes went fourth and Evan Mobley went third overall to Cleveland. Each player would be coveted on any team.
As a team, Detroit appears to have turned a corner, despite the stinging loss of Jaden Ivey, who broke his leg on New Year’s Day against Orlando.
Against the Warriors, the Pistons trailed by 18 points and nearly sent the game into overtime when Malik Beasley’s three-point attempt just before the buzzer missed.
Still, the Pistons find themselves at .500 having won eight of their past nine games heading into their matchup with the Raptors.