The Toronto Raptors improved to 3-1 in preseason play with a commanding victory over the Brooklyn Nets in Montreal on Wednesday.
From Kawhi Leonard's impressive playmaking to Kyle Lowry's quiet night, here are five takeaways from the game...
Don't sleep on Kawhi Leonard's playmaking
After dishing out three assists in a combined 38 minutes against the Portland Trail Blazers and Utah Jazz, Kawhi Leonard had seven assists against the Nets on Wednesday.
Most of those came in similar fashion, with Kawhi collapsing the defense and feeding his Toronto teammates with wide open looks from the perimeter and at the basket.
Kawhi Leonard play-making for the @Raptors!#NBAPreseason on League Pass pic.twitter.com/2HKV0zcXOk
— NBA (@NBA) October 10, 2018
Kawhi's passing is going to be something to monitor all season long because it's his only notable weakness on offence. While we didn't see much of it in the first two preseason games, he put his playmaking potential on full display in Montreal.
Another important stat for Kawhi? He logged 31 minutes in this one, the most he's played since Jan. 2, 2018.
The Bench Mob did it again
The Raptors got back into the game in the second quarter, when — surprise, surprise — Fred VanVleet, Delon Wright and Pascal Siakam were on the court.
VanVleet was knocking down triples, Siakam was breaking the Nets down off the dribble and Wright was doing a little bit of everything. The trio ended the night with a combined 29 points off the bench.
Nick Nurse might continue to experiment with different lineups throughout the season, but the Raptors have more than enough depth to have one of the best second units in the league again with at least two of VanVleet, Wright and Siakam running the show.
Leaving Danny Green open is a bad idea
Danny Green led the way for the Raptors with a team-high 22 points in 21 minutes of action.
Almost all of Green's points came from the 3-point line, which shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone who followed him in San Antonio. Close to half of his shot attempts were catch-and-shoot 3-pointers last season and Green made a respectable 37.2 percent of those opportunities.
The Raptors need much more of that from Green this season. They'll also need his versatility on defense, as he's more than capable of guarding multiple positions in the backcourt.
We saw that side of Green in this game, too, with him spending time on D'Angelo Russell, Joe Harris and Caris LeVert.
OG Anunoby hasn't skipped a beat
You wouldn't have known that this was OG Anunoby's first preseason game based on how he played. He only scored seven points, but Anunoby was his active self on defence, which, when paired with Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green, makes for a terrifying defensive unit.
The Raptors are expecting big things from Anunoby this season. Before Wednesday's game, Nick Nurse said that the sophomore has "noticeably improved from last year" and that we should expect to see Anunoby "moving better, jumping better, cutting better."
He sure looked good on this cut and dunk:
Kawhi to OG. A thing of beauty. pic.twitter.com/FyqUl1ph9g
— Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) October 11, 2018
A quiet night for Kyle Lowry
It's been a quiet preseason in general for Kyle Lowry. He scored 15 points in the first game, but he finished with seven points and two assists against the Jazz and five points and six assists against the Nets.
To make matters worse, Lowry was ejected in the third quarter of Toronto's game against Brooklyn, picking up two technical fouls.
Lowry got off to a slow start last season when the Raptors were still figuring out Nick Nurse's new offence, so it's no surprise that he's flying under the radar a little while the Raptors work Kawhi Leonard into the offence. It's just ... something to keep an eye on.