Early in the third quarter, you could see the ship starting to sway.
The Toronto Raptors had gone into halftime scoring an eye-popping 76 points, running through a poor defensive effort from the Charlotte Hornets for their best half of the season. Pascal Siakam had 19 points, eight assists and seven rebounds, Gary Trent Jr. had dropped in 15 points, and the team had a 22-15 advantage on the glass — winning in all areas of the game.
Even little-used Malachi Flynn was showing off, scoring nine points when foul trouble for Dalano Banton (and knee soreness for Fred VanVleet) necessitated him getting in.