Final score: 111-106 Toronto Raptors vs. Charlotte Hornets Barrett and Quickley guide the team to a narrow triumph.

Grant Williams grabbed a botched defensive rebound before the ball rolled out of bounds, calling a timeout from his position of sitting on the court. The timeout did nothing to help the Hornets, as they missed a shot, fouled Barrett (who missed both shots) and then turned the ball over all within thirty seconds.

Toronto’s first points of the half would come on the ensuing possession, a little over two minutes in, when Olynyk was sent to the line after drawing a foul against Micic. Breaking their score-less drought ignited the Raptors on both ends of the court.

Gary Trent Jr. poked the ball away from Micic and would up getting it back from Quickley on the fast break and made a contested layup. The points caused another Charlotte timeout, this time working more in their favour than the last.

The Hornets drew the game back to a tie with a 7-2 run in less than two minutes of game-time. Coach Rajakovic called his third timeout of the game and boy, did the Raptors ever catch fire after that.

Trent Jr. and Barrett made back to back threes as the Raptors had all the momentum and kept the pressure on with the Scotiabank Arena crowd behind them. Charlotte would add a few baskets but a put-back from Barrett and two more threes from Trent Jr. erupted the crowd once again.

With the highlight of the game to this point, Agbaji was super-human in showing off his athletic abilities. He denied Bridges with a massive block against the backboard and took it all the way to the house himself with a layup.

Unfortunately not just for Raptors fans but all of the NBA, Miles Bridges would then take over, scoring six of his team’s next eight points. Luckily, the Raptors have Jordan Nwora, who would add two baskets of his own and keep the Raptors ahead by multiple possessions.

Heading into the final frame, Toronto led 82-75.

Scotiabank Arena turned back into Jurassic Park as the Raptors took over and dominated the opening minutes of the fourth quarter. Nwora continued his hot stretch by scoring the first five points of the quarter.

Gradey Dick would add his second three of the night and Barrett would knock down a two-point jumper followed by a three of his own as Toronto pulled away. With each basket, the crowd cheered louder and louder, shoving the home court advantage in Charlotte’s face.

Leading by 14 points, the Raptors were due for a poor run at some point. It came as the Hornets went on an 8-2 run where Toronto was playing a little too comfortably.

Gradey’s third three of the night ended the run and put the Raptors into triple digits. Davis Bertans would answer back with a three of his own as he was falling in what was still a cool highlight despite it coming against Toronto.

As the clock ticked down, the Raptors started to let the Hornets back into the game. The team was shooting themselves in the foot, giving Charlotte easy points as they fouled Williams on back-to-back possessions. The Hornets forward then added an unconventional hook-shot basket to cut the Raptors lead to only four points.

With less than two minutes to play, Toronto drew a kicked-ball violation and coach Rajakovic called his second-last timeout in an effort to settle his team down.

The timeout had the complete opposite effect, as Grant Williams continued to single-handedly will his team to a tie with another basket, cutting the lead to two.

Barrett would go on to miss his second shot since the timeout and give the Hornets the opportunity to take the lead. The red hot Bertans would do just that as the Charlotte forward made his fourth three of the night to give his team a one point lead.

Charlotte’s lead wouldn’t last very long, as they fouled Quickley on back to back possessions and missed a long jumper for a four point swing in Toronto’s favour. Leading by three, just over 24 seconds to go, the Raptors had to defend as the Hornets inbounded the ball.

In an extremely questionable decision, Charlotte inbounded to Bertans who quickly put up a three and missed. Quickley grabbed the rebound for Toronto and was immediately fouled, sending him to the line where he made both shots and put the Raptors up by five.

A two possession game, the Hornets called their final timeout to set up a play. Instead of letting them get it off, Agbaji fouled away from the ball, sending Williams to the line and the Hornets retaining possession.

Brandon Miller made a layup to reduce the lead down to two and Trent Jr. was fouled on the inbound. The Raptors guard made for some dramatic scenes as he missed the first of his two free throws before making the second. Leading by three, Trent Jr. iced the game with a steal and layup of his own to secure the win, 111-106.

Winning the season series against Charlotte 3-1, the Raptors were led by their youth. RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley led the team with 23 and 22 points respectively, with IQ adding 11 assists to tie a season-high.