Raptors Notes: Ingram, Poeltl, Quickley, Ownership

After attempting just nine shots from the floor in the Raptors‘ Game 1 loss in Cleveland on Saturday, Brandon Ingram was determined to be more aggressive against Cleveland’s defense in Game 2. However, as Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca writes, Ingram wasn’t effective in Toronto’s second straight loss on Monday, missing all six of his shot attempts in the first half and finishing the game with just seven points on 3-of-15 shooting.

“Of course it would happen if you ask for more shots, that you would miss more shots,” Ingram said after Game 2. “I liked the looks that I had. I’ll continue to be aggressive. I’ll do a better job of keeping the defense off balance by getting my teammates involved and still shooting the shots that I need to shoot. It’s game to game. You make adjustments. I won’t miss all my shots.”

A star player seeking more shots and then not making the most of them could be a source of friction in some locker rooms, writes Grange, but he says that’s not the case in Toronto. Although the team heads home down 2-0 in the series and with its leading scorer averaging just 12.0 PPG on 33.3% shooting, Ingram’s teammates – including Scottie Barnes and RJ Barrett – know they need the All-Star forward to find his groove to have a chance to upset the Cavaliers.

“I just told him, ‘Stay in it. Stay in it. We need you,'” Barrett said of his message to Ingram in Monday’s second half. “He’s got us here, man. Like, the whole season, it’s been amazing for us. He’s been an All-Star. So just told him to stay in it, keep his head in it, that we need him. Because you know when I have my off nights, you know he’s right there to pick me up.”

Here are a few more items of interest on the Raptors before Thursday’s Game 3:

• After veteran big man Jakob Poeltl played just nine minutes in Game 2 and was benched in favor of rookie Collin Murray-Boyles at the start of the second half, head coach Darko Rajakovic wouldn’t say on Wednesday whether he might change his starting lineup for Game 3, per Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca (Twitter links). However, he did tell reporters that he expects more out of his veteran center. “He needs to be part of the solution for us,” Rajakovic said of Poeltl. “He needs to be more aggressive. He needs to dominate the glass. … He’s going to be a big part of Game 3 and I believe he’s going to perform really well.”
• Will Immanuel Quickley be available for Game 3 after missing the first two games of the series with a hamstring injury? The Raptors haven’t put out their injury report yet, but the starting point guard did some individual on-court work after Wednesday’s practice, tweets Lewenberg. Rajakovic said Quickley is “getting better every day,” according to Grange (Twitter link).
• Rogers Communications, the Canadian media and communications giant that currently controls 75% of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE), the Raptors’ parent company, intends to buy the remaining 25% later this year, as Kurt Badenhausen of Sportico details. Once that purchase is completed, Rogers will look to bring in minority investors for its sports assets, per Rogers CEO Tony Staffieri. In addition to the Raptors, MLSE also controls the NHL’s Maple Leafs, MLB’s Blue Jays, and MLS’ Toronto FC. Staffieri estimated that the company’s sports assets, which would likely include media properties such as Sportsnet, will have a total value exceeding $18 billion USD.