Zurab Talakvadze

Sandro was the beast

The Toronto Raptors lacked some deep. The Raptors were in need of domination as they were facing the up and down Utah Jazz and they delivered. One of the main reasons was the play of Georgian NT forward Sandro Mamukelashvili, who had one of the better games of the season.

Toronto beat the opponent 143:127 and imagine, this team did it without Brandon Ingram, Immanuel Quickley and the main pivot and their best rebounder Jakob Poeltl. And, as we mentioned before, Sandro delivered.

Mamukelashvili was in the starting five this time and he was scoring at will. Sandro tied a season-high with 23 points (he also scored that much against Washington this season) and had a season-high 5 steals. Sandro was asking for the ball, Sandro was aggressive on defense and he was scoring in bunches.

He made 9/14 field goals, was 3/6 from the long distance and collected 4 rebounds and 2 dimes as well. One blocked shot closed out the circle for the beast from Georgia.

The balanced attack of the Raptors was led by RJ Barrett, who had 27 points, while Scottie Barnes delivered again with 20 points, 10 crafty assists and 7 rebounds. The leader was on a roll.

For the rest of the season the Raptors need to achieve maximum, as they are in a dogfight for the play offs. With 40:31, they ae fifth in a tight standings in the Eastern Conference with some important games ahead.