NBA scores 2017: DeMar DeRozan and the Raptors are legit fun and 4 more things from Thursday

DeMar DeRozan is...fun? The Toronto Raptors are...good?

The NBA’s northern neighbors have been quiet this season — or at least they feel like it — but they’ll quietly take a 22-8 record this season. And DeRozan led them to the 22nd win on Thursday night, scoring 45 points on 13-of-21 shooting with five rebounds and three assists, to boot.

There are a few reasons to like the new-look Raptors, most notably this season their new look young bench that has destroyed opponents. But DeRozan is the poster child of a demonstrative culture shift in Toronto, one that has the team attempting the sixth most three-pointers (31.7) in the league this season.

We all know the long-two-pointers-are-bad spiel by now, and the NBA has rapidly course-corrected to move away from them. (Monta Ellis is out of the league, after all.) DeRozan had long proved the harder nut to crack in Toronto, and the fact that even he’s embracing these new principles shows that it’s taking root.

Consider last year: DeRozan took 31 percent of his shots between 16 and 23 feet, a number that has fallen to 18 percent. DeRozan is shooting about 9 percent more shots in the 10 to 16 feet range, but that’s good — he’s penetrating deeper on his mid-range shots rather than settling. He has also increased his three-point attempts from 1.7 per game to 2.5, and in Thursday’s game, he hit six of them.

Toronto has kept its core together for more seasons than most of its peers, and it makes it easy to overlook this team. That’s fine. The Raptors are fun as hell whenever you do decide to watch.

Beasley got Madison Square Garden chanting ‘MVP’ for him, and they weren’t talking about his Chinese Basketball Association Most Valuable Player award.

The reason was that Beasley went off like the microwave-popcorn scorer that he is, which the Knicks are using in a perfect role.

Porzingis made his return from a two-game absence from a knee injury, but he played only 23 minutes while scoring one point — he shot 0-of-11 from the field with two turnovers.

He should be fine, but it was a rough first night back. At least the Knicks won!

Suns 97, Grizzlies 95 (Bright Side of the Sun recap | Grizzly Bear Blues recap)

Cavaliers 115, Bulls 112 (Fear the Sword recap | Blog a Bull recap)

Raptors 114, 76ers 109 (Raptors HQ recap | Liberty Ballers recap)

Knicks 102, Celtics 93 (Posting & Toasting recap | Celtics Blog recap)

Jazz 100, Spurs 89 (SLC Dunk recap | Pounding the Rock recap)