Raptors Respond to Effort Questions With Fight in Loss to 76ers

The Toronto Raptors respond to questions about their lack of effort with a respectable showing in a loss to the Philadelphia 76ers

Darko Rajaković rarely criticizes his team publicly.

It’s been one of many notable differences between Rajaković and his predecessor Nick Nurse. If there’s something he’s unhappy with, Rajaković keeps it in-house.

That’s what made his comments after the Toronto Raptors’ 44-point loss earlier this week so notable. It’s one thing to lose 12 straight games, but it’s another to do it as lifelessly as the Raptors had.

“I always tell our team that we have the best fans in the world, and they deserve our best effort every single night,” Rajaković said following the loss to the New York Knicks. “Unfortunately, it was the case the last couple of games.”

That’s about as close as Rajaković is going to get to publicly calling out his team’s effort.

For a team with so many players fighting for bigger NBA opportunities, the effort the Raptors have shown of late has been disappointing and unacceptable.

Rajaković demanded a more.

On Sunday, he got that.

The result may not have been all that different, but the way Toronto played was. The Raptors clawed out of an 18-point second-half deficit and did their best to hand around with an undermanned Philadelphia 76ers squad.

It wasn’t enough, but a 135-120 loss was progress.

Toronto’s depth pieces held their own for most of the night.

Jordan Nwora continued to show his offensive firepower, dropping 19 points including eight in the third quarter as Toronto tried to muster a comeback.

Javon Freeman-Liberty’s shot wasn’t falling as efficiently as the Raptors would have hoped, but the 24-year-old combo guard called his own number on the fastbreak and scored a transition layup to cut the 76ers’ lead down to seven in the third. He finished the night with 11 points and seven rebounds in his fourth start for the Raptors.

A three-pointer from Gary Trent Jr. in the final minutes of the fourth trimmed Philadelphia’s lead down to eight and forced Nurse to call a timeout. But that was as close as Toronto would get. Cameron Payne nailed a three over Toronto’s zone defense out of the timeout and Philadelphia never looked back.

Trent led the way with 23 points on 10-for-20 shooting while Kelly Olynyk recorded an 18-point, 11-rebound double-double in 32 minutes.

Kelly Oubre just caught fire from three-point range for Philadelphia, nailing six threes to lead all scorers with 32 points.

The loss was Toronto’s 13th straight and keeps the organization a full game up on the Memphis Grizzlies for the sixth-worst record in the NBA.

Considering how bleak it’s looked lately, at least the Raptors showed some fight. That’s about the best you can ask for these days.

Up Next: Los Angeles Lakers

The Raptors will wrap up their homestand on Tuesday when LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers come to town for a 7 p.m. ET tipoff at Scotiabank Arena.