Dial 905: Raptors 905 with a statement sweep against the Cleveland Charge

Feb 6, 2023 - 4:00 PM

As the regular season approaches the halfway mark, the Raptors 905 entered their recent series against the Cleveland Charge from outside the playoff picture. Conversely, the Charge entered this series with the best NBA G League record at 9-2.

The Raptors 905 unplugged the Cleveland Charge early on the front end of their series, running away with a 136-100 win. Sharife Cooper provided the spark for the Charge the next game and was looking like they were about to steal a split, but the Raptors 905’s bench mob stifled them in the second half, pulling off an electric 124-118 win.

Reggie Perry provided a solid foundation for the Raptors 905 during the series, putting up 21 points, 7.5 rebounds, 5.5 assists, 3.5 steals, and 1.5 blocks while shooting 42.9% from the perimeter. Jeff Dowtin Jr. had an up-and-down series but did manage to hang 15 points and five assists, including clutch buckets in the second game.

The Raptors 905’s bench put them over the top, with Aaron Epps and Jeremiah Tilmon averaging at least 11 points each while providing paint protection. Newcomer Tra-Deon Hollins is averaging ten assists off the bench.

Regular Season Game 12: Raptors 905 136, Cleveland Charge 100

Raptors 905: Jeff Dowtin Jr., David Johnson, Gabe Brown, Reggie Perry, Sterling Brown

Cleveland Charge: Nate Hinton, Rashad Vaughn, Jamorko Pickett, Chandler Vaudrin, Isaiah Mobley

Assignee(s)

Raptors 905: Ron Harper Jr. (TW), Jeff Dowtin Jr. (TW)

Cleveland Charge: Isaiah Mobley (TW)

The Raptors 905 gave the Cleveland Charge a rude welcome, dunking all over the visitors the entire game with a 136-100 rout. The Charge came to town shorthanded, missing the league’s top scorer Sharife Cooper. The Raptors 905 held the league’s best record heading into this series to 29% from the field, while the hosts dunked on every opportunity on the other end.

Reggie Perry led the Raptors 905 with 23 points, eight boards, and six dimes. Jeff Dowtin Jr. shook off his Birmingham Squadron slump, this time, posting 20 points on 6-for-8 shooting from the field. Coach Khoury got excellent production from the bench, led by Gabe Brown and Aaron Epps’ 17 points apiece.

It was an easy win for the Raptors 905, who stumped the Charge in several categories. The Raptors 905 owned the paint, outrebounding the Charge 54-38 and having a 74-22 advantage in points in the paint.

The Raptors 905 got off to a hot start from the perimeter, but Isaiah Mobley got the Charge back in the game. Coach Khoury showed plenty of bodies every time Mobley touched the ball, but the Charge made the quarter competitive. It took until the newly minted bench mob turned a four-point lead into a 12-point lead late in the quarter.

The Charge tried to keep it close to start the second frame, but their poor perimeter shooting kept them from making ground. Hollins and Harper Jr.’s back-to-back trifectas pushed the Raptors lead to 41-28. The Raptors 905 maintained a 15-point lead throughout the rest of the half.

A 14-5 Raptors 905 run early in the third period blew the game wide open, giving them an 86-64 lead. It was open gym from here on, as the Raptors 905 broke the spirit of the Charge early in this game, and they never recovered, even surrendering a 38-point lead late in the game.

Regular Season Game 13: Raptors 905 124, Cleveland Charge 118

Raptors 905: Jeff Dowtin Jr., David Johnson, Gabe Brown, Reggie Perry, Sterling Brown

Cleveland Charge: Sharife Cooper, Rashad Vaughn, Jamorko Pickett, Chandler Vaudrin, Isaiah Mobley

Assignee(s)

Raptors 905: Ron Harper Jr. (TW), Jeff Dowtin Jr. (TW)

Cleveland Charge: Isaiah Mobley (TW)

The Raptors 905 overcame a 21-point lead with the help of the bench mob, helping outscore the Cleveland Charge 52-29 over the last 18 minutes, while the starters put the cherry on the top and completed the comeback with a thrilling 124-118 win.

It was a balanced attack for the Raptors 905, with seven players in double figures. Reggie Perry led the team with 19 points, seven boards, two blocks, and a career-high five steals. Ron Harper Jr. was one of the starters with a quiet night but a loud finish, coming up with a clutch block on Sharife Cooper and a clutch layup late in the game. He finished with 15 points and two blocks.

The revamped bench mob carried the team for most of the game, with Gabe Brown scoring 11 of his 14 points in the pivotal 4th quarter. Tra-Deon Hollins was the best point guard on the floor, channelling his Jamal Tinsley en route to 10 assists, dropping most of his dimes during their comeback.

The shorthanded Cleveland Charge got the league’s scoring leader for this game, as Sharife Cooper sat the front end of their baseball series due to an ankle injury. Cooper did not disappoint, putting up 21 points, six assists, and five steals. Isaiah Mobley had a monster stat line of 22 points, 14 boards, seven assists, and three blocks but was a non-factor in the fourth.

Charge’s Jamorko Pickett led all scorers with 30 points and eight boards. Jordan “They can’t guard me” Allen added 24 of his 26 points in the first half.

The Charge looked like they were on the way to leave Mississauga with a split, as their starters had thoroughly outplayed their counterparts. For the most part, Cooper put the Raptors 905’s defense on their heels, Mobley terrorized the paint, and the duo of Allen and Pickett made it rain from the perimeter. It took Tra-Deon Hollins’ surgical approach to dissect the Charge’s defense, and a locked-down defense late in the third to help turn things around for the home team.

David Johnson got off to a hot start early, rattling seven straight points for the 905, but Sharife Cooper’s presence had an immediate impact on the game. Cooper’s shiftiness and ability to either push the pace or get in the paint put the Raptors 905’s defense under a lot of stress, allowing the Charge to get to an early 21-14 lead. Gabe Brown’s three-point capped off an 8-0 run late in the quarter, putting the Raptors 905 ahead 24-23 for a moment, but a sloppy quarter favoured the visitors a bit, as the 905ers trail the Charge 28-30.

Cleveland’s Jordan Allen started the second frame with back-to-back trifectas to open up a 13-7 run, giving the Charge a 43-35 lead. The Charge stepped up their defense, putting a lid on the Raptors 905’s basket, holding them to 0-for-7 over the next three minutes, and Allen’s onslaught from the perimeter continued with another back-to-back trifecta to give the Charge a 51-39 lead. Johnson’s back-to-back layups got the Raptors 905 their bearings back, but the Charge continued to wax hot from the perimeter, building a 21-point lead at one point. The 905 kept attacking the paint and started to find some success, going on an 8-0 run late in the game, but Canadian Gabe Osabuohien’s putback at the buzzer put the Charge up 70-55 at the half.

The Raptors 905 opened up the second half with a better defensive effort, with Johnson keying in a 12-6 run to cut the lead to 67-76. However, sloppy possessions and Perry imploding allowed the Charge to go on a 13-4 run via mostly pick-sixes. The Sterling + bench picked up the slack for the home team, as their scrappy play, along with timely perimeter shooting, allowed them to close out the quarter with an 11-5 run to cut the lead to 88-94 entering the final period.

Cooper and Gabe exchanged threes to start the fourth, with neither team willing to give the momentum to the other. Hollins found Gabe and Hawkins in consecutive fastbreak opportunities to cut the lead to 101-100. However, the Raptors 905 blew consecutive defensive possessions by giving up wide-open three-pointers, as the Charge went on an 8-0 run, leading 109-100 halfway through the quarter. Hollins got the Raptors 905 back in the game again with a couple of dimes, one to Gabe for a corner three and another to Perry cutting to the basket, forcing the Charge to call for time.

Coach Khoury took this opportunity to put his starters back, and it looked like a bad idea initially. It took a while for the starters to get going, as Perry looked like he was a final straw away from imploding. However, Harper Jr.’s clutch block on Cooper’s layup kickstarted the “oomph” that the starters were missing. The Raptors 905 locked up the Charge over the next few possessions, and we’re way past due for a Dowtin Jr. takeover. With over two minutes left, Dowtin Jr. went downhill on his defender, spun around, and hit a floater to cut the Charge’s lead back to two, with just over two minutes remaining.

Cooper jacked up a corner three, but the Charge retained possession. Cooper went along the basement and tried to dump a pass under the basket. However, the Raptors 905’s length got in the way, and Sterling had a comedic fastbreak play that ended up with an unintentional corner trifecta for the 117-116 lead, as the crowd exploded in excitement!

The crowd’s intensity didn’t stop, as the Raptors 905 locked down the Charge the next possession, forcing a shot-clock violation as the visitors looked rattled. Harper Jr. faked Mobley the next play and got to the basket with a double-clutch layup, pushing the Charge to call for time. The Raptors 905 forced the Charge to their secondary ATO action, but Perry lost Mobley, who got to the cup easily, cutting the 905’s lead to 119-118 with 30 seconds remaining, forcing coach Khoury to call for time. Khoury drew up a Dowtin Jr./Perry PnR action, Perry re-screened, and Dowtin Jr. took advantage of Cooper going under the screen, and he went for a stepback trifecta and called “game.”