Raptors lose highly contested overtime battle against Clippers
Toronto opened the game up on an 18-4 run which was sparked by their ferocious and suffocating defense to open the game. James Harden saw multiple bodies on many of his on-ball possessions, Toronto swarmed any drives LA could muster, and this led to fastbreak points off of leak outs. Jamal Shead’s fingerprints were all over this one early, especially as a playmaker, his speed empowering him to swing the ball around and slither his way to the basket. He finished the opening period with 10 points and 5 assists, reaping the benefits of his drives to the basket in the form of layups and free throws.
After this run, Los Angeles slowed things down immensely which worked to their benefit. LA’s tertiary players began to capitalize on the attention Harden was getting, and a few sloppy closeouts from Toronto led to easy looks for players like Kobe Sanders who attacked from the strong side corner for a dunk. Headed into the second quarter, the Raptors lead had dwindled to 8 points, and they needed to get back to the quick pace they opened the game with.
LA opened up the second half on a 12-2 run which was enough to take the lead. Even without their superstar Kawhi Leonard, LA was making life very difficult for Toronto on offense. Brandon Ingram couldn’t venture into the mid-range area without an extra set of hands impeding his path, the middle of the floor collapsed on every Raptors drive. Although Harden was shooting extremely poorly from the floor, his confidence never waned and he kept shooting, adding to this run the Clippers went on. The Clippers run was brought to an end by a timely Ingram three and then a Mamu dunk knotted things up at 68. It was the Mamu show after this, he got in the lane off of a feed from Shead and made a floater through contact, and then he finished around Zubac to take the lead.
Then Gradey Dick joined the party and knocked down two triples in a row to widen the gap for Toronto. Dick’s impact on this game was very encouraging, Darko Rajakovic trusted him enough to play in the late minutes of this one and his effort alone led to a lot of positive things. He showed great awareness and touch late in the game on a fast break lob to Ingram.
This game was a seesaw-like battle, each team taking their turn shifting things toward their side, and when it got to clutch time, it was clear that the winner of this game would have to make smart decisions down the stretch, and execute efficient actions properly. For a time the Raptors did this, but being faced against Harden, a player who has done this more times than he probably remembers, they were outmaneuvered. Harden’s method down the stretch was simple, either isolate for a drive or jumper, or get to the free throw line. But his pick n’ roll process felt like watching a tape on replay. Several times down the stretch Harden would get a ball screen, which would then force a tag from the weak side corner, which would then prompt him to swing the ball to that corner for a good look.
Some of Toronto’s process down the stretch was pretty rough, and was the deciding factor in this game. While Harden is a known maestro with the ball in his hands, Ingram is not close to that level, and he made some fairly poor decisions as a ball handler during clutch time. Ingram does not seem equipped to handle nail help, and sometimes when he is met with this attention he will opt to force a contested jumper rather than resetting the possession. Teams are able to get away with doubling Ingram because of his lack of vision. It would be unfair to place the sole blame for this loss on Ingram, but at a time where Toronto needed his shotmaking he did not deliver unfortunately.
Scottie Barnes and Collin Murray-Boyles have been great small ball big men, especially on the defensive end, but sometimes there is only so much the duo can be expected to do against a true 7-foot behemoth. There were great moments on defense against Ivica Zubac, but sometimes his sheer size under the basket was too much for them to handle.
Harden closed this game out with some pretty remarkable scoring. Whenever he got a matchup he liked, whether it was against Ochai Agbaji or Shead, he would immediately attack and often blow past them for points. When Toronto tried to force the Barnes matchup, Harden would call for a screen to get Barnes away from him, and dance on whoever was left, often resulting in a bucket. However, to take the lead in OT, Harden attacked Barnes, got to the mid-range area, paused, and sinked a jumper to extend their lead to three.
It was a hard-fought game but Toronto simply got outclassed by one of the greatest offensive players that has ever lived. Next up for Toronto are Luka Doncic, LeBron James, and the Los Angeles Lakers as they head west to Hollywood for their matchup.
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