Problems Galore for Raptors Whose Slide Continues With Blowout Loss to Warriors
Three times the Toronto Raptors grabbed offensive rebounds on one possession in the second quarter. It became almost comical as the team full of 6-foot-9ish wings played keep away, grabbing boards one after another as the Golden State Warriors jumped in vain. The problem: It never turned into points.
It's become a bit of a trend for the Raptors this season. There are opportunities to score, plenty of them, but converting? No. That can't be done with any sort of frequency.
Two Malachi Flynn three-pointers clanked off the back of the rim and sandwiched between a pair of missed jumpers from Pascal Siakam. Three rebounds, one full minute with the basketball, and nothing to show for it. That's Raptors basketball these days.
At this point, the excuses are running thin. Yes, Toronto was without O.G. Anunoby, Gary Trent Jr., Otto Porter Jr., and Precious Achiuwa, four of their top eight rotation players. But it wasn't like the Warriors packed it in without Steph Curry and Andrew Wiggins. Instead, Golden State's undermanned group ran away with things, blowing out the Raptors 126-110 and dealing Toronto its fifth straight loss.
"Certainly not very happy with the performance," Raptors coach Nick Nurse said. "We['ve] got to at least give ourselves a chance. We have in most of the other games. Tonight we didn’t give ourselves much of a chance."
Pascal Siakam, Fred VanVleet, and Scottie Barnes were fine. The trio tallied 66 points combined. The problem was everyone else. Nobody stepped up off the bench. Christian Koloko was benched to start the second half. Malachi Flynn who took his spot wasn't much better. Juancho Hernangomez isn't good enough to be starting NBA games and the five bench players who saw minutes combined for 36 points.
But for all the offense's struggles, at least they were predictable. It's the downfall of this defense that's the most surprising. The lack of a reliable rim protector leaves Toronto far too exposed when its defensive gambles don't pay off. That's not entirely Koloko's fault because, as Raptors coach Nick Nurse acknowledged prior to the game, the 22-year-old rookie is being thrust into NBA action when he'd be better served getting extended action in the G League right now.
"I think we are going to have to guard better, first of all. I don’t think that we haven’t shown that this group of guys can play the way we want to play," Nurse added.
Without a rim protector, drive-and-kick chances and open threes for opposing teams have become commonplace. Even Draymond Green, who came into Sunday shooting just 29% on 1.5 three-pointers per game, opened the game with three straight three-pointers with Toronto's defense leaving him wide open for easy looks. And for a team that's always been so determined to take away primary options, Jordan Poole certainly didn't have any trouble. Instead, the 23-year-old set a career-high with 43 points on 14-for-23 shooting.
What's so strange about this recent skid is how nothing seems entirely different from last season's group. It's virtually the same team that went toe-to-toe with the Philadelphia 76ers in last year's playoffs that can't seem to get out of its own way this year.
"Obviously we haven’t been healthy the whole way. That could be something. I don’t know if we play well enough in these games to win," Siakam said. "We have to figure out a way to come together and get wins. At the end of the day, I don’t care about the schemes or this or that. We’ve just got to win. That’s the only thing."
This Raptors team isn't as bad as they've looked lately, but something is going to have to change or things could get ugly very soon. With the trade deadline less than two months away, it's starting to get late very early for this disappointing squad.
Up Next: Philadelphia 76ers
The Raptors will be right back at it Monday night when they hit the road to take on Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers at 7 p.m. ET.
