Nick Young brought the full Swagy P to this game.
Young can be maddening. His swagger, his confidence can lead to bad decisions. The kind of shots Kobe regrets taking Young doesn’t fear. For example, in the first quarter against the Raptors Tuesday night Young was in the right corner when he got a high pass he had to leap to get and almost fell out of bounds to get, then he instantly launched a ridiculous, high-arching contested three.
That hit nothing but net. It was that kind of night for Young.
In the fourth quarter, with the Sixers going small, Young was dynamic and made things happen. He had two driving layups, a contested three and a nifty pass to Thaddeus Young, and 10 points in total. He and he smaller, quicker lineup sparked 76ers comeback and an 18-4 run gave Philly a 106-98 win.
Philly’s small lineup of Jrue Holliday, Dorell Wright, Jason Richardson and Thaddeus Young was the key — Holiday attacked and dished, Young created shots and the Raptors looked like a team with the tired legs of having played three games in four nights. Which they were. Toronto wore down and Philly ran right past them.
Toronto has to feel like they let one slip away, but they couldn’t get stops against a quicker team. I have no idea why Raptors coach Dwyane Casey didn’t go back to Jonas Valanciunas in the fourth quarter — he had 11 points, 11 rebounds and was a +7 on the night because he could defend inside. Casey let Doug Collins dictate the matchups late and it cost him.
DeMar DeRozan had 24 points and was solid on offense but not on defense late. Andrea Bargnani had 22 but it took him 21 shots to get there.
Toronto also had the return of Kyle Lowry, who was aggressive but looked rusty — 13 points but it took 14 shots and he was 3-8 from the free throw line. He’ll get his touch back, but it wasn’t there Tuesday. Still, the Philly native got a nice round of applause from the locals when he entered the game.
However, this was Philly’s night. Jason Richardson dropped 21 and had a key three late. Jrue Holiday had 19 points and 12 dimes.
But this was Young’s show — 23 points on 13 shots. Plus he had four assists, which is like 20 for anyone else. Swagy P was in full force and Philly got the win because of it.