NBA 2018-19: 3 Talking Points as Toronto Raptors beat Utah Jazz 122-116

In a cross-conference match, the 2nd seed in the East, Toronto Raptors went head-to-head against the Utah Jazz in what turned out to be the Kawhi Leonard show.

Both the teams played a good brand of basketball and there was not much to separate separation between the two except Kawhi Leonard. Utah played hard and never gave up until the final buzzer. On the other hand, Toronto did what they do best. They stuck to their basketball style and won the game, which is the priority.

The Raptors have now won 3 of their last 5 matches and are ranked 2nd in the East with a record of 28-11, while the Jazz have lost 3 of their last 5 matches and are ranked 11th in the West with a record of 18-20.

With all that in mind, here are the top 3 talking points from this game -

#3 Battle of two great benches

This match was supposed to be a highly competitive one from the start and both teams did deliver on the promise. Even the bench of both the teams came out to prove each other's mettle and prove which team has better bench players.

Even though Toronto were missing some of their crucial players, their bench gave a good fight against the Jazz's bench, which outscored them by 13 points. They all were airtight and made sure that they contributed to their team's victory.

The bench for the Utah Jazz did their job as they gave them a huge advantage in terms of bench points. Yet, the team was not able to take advantage of it and succumbed to a loss.

Jae Crowder was phenomenal in the match as he came off the bench and scored 30 crucial points for Utah in just 26 minutes.

#2 Parity in the shooting efficiency of both teams

Utah Jazz

Toronto Raptors are one of the most efficient teams in the league and this comes down to the quality of the shots they take and make. They're currently ranked 7th in the league for the best field goal percentage in the league at 47%. This is as good as it gets from Toronto.

And tonight was just another night of efficient display from the Toronto players, who made sure that they find open men and gave them easy shots to make. They had good ball movement and made plays that looked sensible without overdoing anything.

In this game, the Raptors shot 55% from the field while the Jazz shot 43%. This huge difference was a huge reason for the Jazz losing the game. Their defense had no answer for Kawhi and Co. as they gave in to their excellence.

#1 The Kawhi Leonard show

Kawhi Leonard

Kawhi Leonard has been in the news for a number of reasons this year. From his forced trade to the Raptors to his lurking free agency this summer. But none of this seems to concern Kawhi as he's back in business and is playing at a level everyone thought he would.

In this match, he took over the game and won it single-handedly for the Raptors. He scored 45 points on 16-22 shooting which proved to be too much for the Jazz to handle. Not only that, he was amazing in man defense as well and made sure that he never let his assigned defensive target to get hot.

Leonard has been averaging 27.3 points per game on 50% shooting throughout the season.

In their next game, the Raptors will face the San Antonio Spurs while the Utah Jazz will go to Cleveland to get back to winning ways.