Amir Johnson, PF Shot Chart 18 MIN | 2-6 FG | 2-2 FT | 9 REB | 1 AST | 1 STL | 3 BLK | 1 TO | 6 PTS | -3 Inconsistent offensively, but his defensive effort sparked the Raptors in the third quarter, where the team quickly followed suit and built a big lead. I love the pick and pop play with him and Ross. Played hard on an injured ankle, and was rightly given more time to sit than usual.

Terrence Ross, SF Shot Chart 37 MIN | 7-10 FG | 3-3 FT | 1 REB | 3 AST | 2 STL | 3 BLK | 2 TO | 18 PTS | +1 The Raptors most consistent scorer on the night. Made great decisions with the ball and unleashed a dunk from the seventh level of hell that made Kenneth Faried reconsider his chosen profession (link below). He’s showing some developing chemistry on pick and roll/pop plays with Amir Johnson.

Jonas Valanciunas, C Shot Chart 29 MIN | 4-10 FG | 5-6 FT | 8 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 13 PTS | +4 Had his defensive issues in the first half, but responded nicely in the second. The Raptors fed him the ball constantly up big in the fourth and let him work, which was nice to see – he even hit a 12 footer. Three of those misses are jumpers in the fourth, which I’m willing to forgive, given the score (the Raptors were comfortably up at the time).

Kyle Lowry, PG Shot Chart 31 MIN | 5-15 FG | 0-0 FT | 3 REB | 6 AST | 2 STL | 0 BLK | 3 TO | 13 PTS | +15 He was excellent in the first, but took some questionable transition 3s that led to easy Denver buckets on the other side (11 three-point attempts?). A lot of this game was played on the pick and roll, though, and Lowry did a typically excellent job there.

DeMar DeRozan, SG Shot Chart 33 MIN | 6-17 FG | 7-8 FT | 3 REB | 1 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 3 TO | 19 PTS | +5 Our newly-minted All-Star returned after missing a couple games due to injury and looked rusty in the first half, where he went 1 for 5, all on long twos, and most of those contested. His fourth quarter was pretty ugly too (0 for 4), but he absolutely exploded in the third, putting the team on his back and staking the Raptors to what turned out to be an insurmountable lead. Not a bad night to work out the kinks. Got to the line pretty regularly, as well, which was where most of his first-half points came.

Tyler Hansbrough, PF Shot Chart 13 MIN | 4-5 FG | 1-1 FT | 5 REB | 0 AST | 2 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 9 PTS | +5 THIS is why there’s been so many “we could have used Hansbrough tonight” comments over the past few weeks. It’s also why it was so good that he waited until he was 100% before coming back. Was all over the floor on offence and defence, making things tough for Faried and the much larger Mozgov and cleaning up the offensive glass. A very effective 13 minutes.

Patrick Patterson, PF Shot Chart 24 MIN | 4-7 FG | 0-0 FT | 6 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 0 TO | 9 PTS | +18 Came in masked up and put to rest any doubts that it would affect his shooting right away with 3 jumpers in the first half. His best work came defensively, though, where his mobility was key in putting the Nuggets away. He and Hansbrough were the bigs on the floor for the Raps’ big third-quarter run.

Chuck Hayes, PF Shot Chart 12 MIN | 1-2 FG | 0-0 FT | 2 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 2 PTS | -4 Not a great matchup for him with Denver’s mix of mobile bigs and the much larger Mozgov. Did what he could, which wasn’t much. Eh, wasn’t his night.

John Salmons, SF Shot Chart 24 MIN | 4-9 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 9 AST | 2 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 11 PTS | +16 Nine assists! The only reason he doesn’t get an A is because of the hero ball he played in the first half – he took far too many shots and did his best Rudy Gay impersonation for a quarter or so. He was also one of the primary culprits when it came to the lazy wing defence the Raps played in the first half – on one possession, Wilson Chandler went around him like he was standing still. Played a truly excellent second half, though, seeing the floor well and even hitting a couple heat-check shots early in the fourth.

Greivis Vasquez, PG Shot Chart 20 MIN | 0-4 FG | 0-0 FT | 2 REB | 3 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 3 TO | 0 PTS | -7 I hesitate to give him an F because the margin of victory was so comfortable, but his defensive shortcomings were really exposed tonight. Casey chose to have Terrence Ross guard Randy Foye and put Vasquez on the much larger Evan Fournier, where he was beaten in pretty much every way imaginable. Moved the ball well on offence and made one particularly nice cross-court pass to Lowry for an open 3, but his D was truly ugly tonight.