Mike Watters-USA TODAY Sports
Raptors Fall Back to .500, Squandering Stellar Pascal Siakam Performance in Loss to Magic
The Toronto Raptors are 13-13, a .500 team, and, well, about as good as their record suggests.
This was supposed to be the easy part of Toronto's schedule. The LeBron James and Anthony Davis-less Los Angeles Lakers proved an easy task and a pair against the Orlando Magic should have allowed the Raptors to right the ship after a disappointing start. Good teams take care of business when they have to.
The Raptors didn't.
A 113-109 loss to the lowly Magic proved another disappointment in what's been a season with more than a few of them. Fred VanVleet's would-be game-tying floater didn't even touch the rim after a strange out-of-timeout play call from Toronto went seemingly nowhere.
The loss squandered what was an otherwise brilliant 36-point, nine-rebound, and seven-assist effort from Pascal Siakam who has clearly re-found his footing after a groins strain sidelined him for the better part of November. He did it from every level Friday night, getting to the rim with ease, nailing mid-range jumpers like a true superstar, and adding a pair of three-pointers, though one more late in the fourth that clanked would have paid off for Toronto.
In a game in which the Raptors fell behind by as many as 20, Siakam was always in the positive for plus-minus, finishing the night plus-12 as Toronto repeatedly squandered opportunities anytime he went to the bench.
Defensive Struggles
For a team that's supposed to pride itself on the defensive end, Toronto has far too many embarrassing defensive outings. Scottie Barnes, who was a team worse minus-24 on Friday, hasn't quite taken the defensive step expected of him and defensive miscues create easy buckets at the rim without any rim-deterrent contesting shots. The hyper-aggressive schemes are usually a good idea when it comes to stopping individual players and forcing turnovers, but Toronto can't seem to reliably figure out its rotations and it's proving costly.
While Orlando did cough up 18 turnovers, the Raptors had no answers for Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero who had 34 and 23 points, respectively.
First Quarter Woes
Just when it seemed like the Raptors may have put their first-quarter woes behind them, Orlando jumped out to a 37-25 lead in the first 12 minutes. Even changes to the starting lineup haven't seemed to solve the problem for Toronto who came into Friday night being outscored by 1.7 points in the first quarter on average.
The Raptors simply couldn't stop the Magic who shot 66% in the frame, getting into the paint for buckets or stepping behind the three-point line for 18 points off the long ball in the quarter. It wasn't dire for Toronto who eventually climbed out of the hole thanks to a 15-2 run in the second quarter, but these lopsided first quarters are continuing to force the Raptors into comeback situations.
Up Next: Orlando Magic
The Raptors will now look to get back on track in a rematch against the Magic on Sunday night at 6 p.m. ET.
