Toronto wraps up season with loss to San Antonio 125-118

Despite the loss, career performances from Mogbo and Battle provide positive ending note

And with that, the Raptors 2024-2025 season comes to a close. In a way, this game was perfectly emblematic of the season. It had the good, the bad, and the ugly. Fun performances from the rookies, periods of struggle on both ends of the floor, and the reality that no lead is safe. A fitting end to a rebuilding year, and one that has been full of hope for the future.

The Raptors certainly came into this matchup looking to end the season on a high note. Their offence was clicking throughout the first half, with ball movement that created great looks for everyone on the floor. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to sustain it for the full 48 minutes. To add insult to injury (or rather injury to insult), the Raptors also lost Garrett Temple early in the first quarter to a sprained knee, who missed the remainder of the game.

Despite the loss, the Raptors had several strong performances. Jamison Battle set his career high with 25 points, 9 rebounds, and 3 assists, shooting 7-for-14 from long range. Scottie flirted with a triple double, finishing with 35 points, 11 rebounds, and 8 assists. Castleton, Lawson, Shead, and Agbaji also scored in double figures. Mogbo had another all-around performance, stuffing the stat sheet with 9 points, 14 rebounds, 10 assists, and 4 steals, almost attaining his second triple double of his young career.

San Antonio is happy to close out the season as well, with Wemby and Fox riding the bench with injuries that caused the direction of the season to change completely. Also in the draft lottery and the outcome of this game irrelevant for their odds, the Spurs’ goal was to end the season off positively.

Stephon Castle, the Spurs’ rookie of the year contender had an excellent game, with 20-8-6. Keldon Johnson chipped in 23-9 and vets Chris Paul and Harrison Barnes helped lead the offence combining for 33-12-7 and 7 steals. Despite the deficit at the half, they never gave up.

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In the first quarter, the Raptors defence struggled slightly, not fully committing to some plays and allowing the Spurs to get easy looks. Despite a mediocre team effort, Ochai looked aggressive on that end, picking up Stephon Castle at full court and putting pressure on him. On the heels of a 17-point first quarter performance Friday night, it only made sense that he was trying to get going early. Unfortunately, he wasn’t as hot tonight, and instead it was Jamison Battle who would carry the first-quarter three point shooting for the Raptors. With his first two converting, Battle continued to fire them without hesitation. Notably, one of those shots was his 100th of the season:

His confidence kept growing as they kept falling, finishing with 18 points on 6-for-7 shooting in the first, helping give the Raptors the advantage in a back-and-forth quarter that closed 37-32.

Scottie tried to come alive in the second and managed a tough shot to open the quarter. His next few trips were not as successful, making him lose some steam. He headed to the bench, and with the return of the rookies to the floor, the tide turned, and some pesky defence and unselfish ball movement between Shead, Mogbo, and Agbaji allowed them to build a substantial lead. When Scottie returned to the floor, his aggression and effort was refreshed, and he started to dominate, making a series of turn-around, step-back, and fadeaway shots that renewed his confidence.

This combined effort meant that the Raptors rocked a 20 point lead headed into the locker room.

Unfortunately, the game wasn’t over yet. It’s hard to tell exactly where things went wrong for the Raptors in the third. They started strong, with some clever passing and cutting opening up the door for easy slams and open three-point shooting.

Then they started to get a little bit shaky, and San Antonio came back into the game with a renewed effort and energy. The crowd started to engage as the Spurs chipped away on the Raptors’ lead. Possession by possession, a 26-11 run depleted Toronto’s lead to 2.

The first few minutes of the final frame were back-and-forth possessions with neither team able to build a lead. They both found ways to score, and their defences tightened. Halfway through, the Spurs made their final push. Able to draw fouls and find their way to the line, they pulled away just enough to hold a comfortable three-possession lead. With some key calls late in the stretch going against Toronto (one of which got Darko heated to the point that he could’ve probably been t’d up), the Raptors ran out of time. As the clock expired, San Antonio led 125-118.

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Now they enter the offseason with high hopes for the draft and time for the roster to get healthy and build chemistry. As much as it’s been an up-and-down season, there’ve been fun moments and it’s impossible to not look forward to next year.