Raptors Roundup: Lowry’s last game, Shead’s big night, and fatal flaws
Welcome to Raptors Roundup! A weekly recap of everything going on in the world of the Toronto Raptors.
This week started bad, and ended worse. The injuries continue to stack up for the Raptors and it culminated in losses against both LA teams that exacerbated Toronto’s biggest flaws. At the very least, the week started strong, with some nostalgia in the 76ers game and then a great showing against Indiana. Let’s dive in to the week.
76ers obliterate Raptors from deep, winning 102-115
It’s probably best for the recap of this game if I focus on Kyle Lowry’s standing ovation and not the fact that the Raptors were down by 29 at halftime. Perhaps Toronto simply wanted Lowry to get minutes in what could be his last game in the city, that’s the excuse I’m sticking with at least. Truthfully, if there was any game for a blowout, I’m not mad about it being this one if it meant seeing the GROAT one last time.
Still, what went so wrong? Simple. The Sixers showed up with flamethrowers for arms, and cashed in 7 threes on 8 attempts in the first quarter. It legitimately seemed like they could not miss. Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid combined for 40 points in the first half and the Sixers took an 80-51 lead.
Heading into this game there was a stat floating around that the Raptors were 7-0 when shooting below 26 percent from three. While very impressive, it’s not a sustainable plan for winning games, and it all came crashing down in this one. Toronto shot 16.2% from beyond the arc and got their butts whooped.
The only real standout performance on the Raptors’ side was AJ Lawson, who hit half of the Raptors’ threes and provided energy on defense, drawing an offensive foul in the midst of a late game push. As time wound down, chants of “We want Lowry!” broke out in Scotiabank Arena, and after a few minutes Nick Nurse obliged when the win was in hand. The moment when Lowry checked in was something out of a fairytale, the entire arena was on their feet, and Lowry relished in the moment. If this was indeed his last game in Toronto, there was no better way for it to go down. Lowry himself described it as “one of the greatest basketball moments of my personal career.”
Top Performers:
- AJ Lawson – 14 PTS, 1 REB, 1 AST, 5-9 FG, 3-6 3FG, 1-1 FT, +1 +/-
- Collin Murray-Boyles – 12 PTS, 7 REB, 6 AST, 2 STL, 6-9 FG, -3 +/-
- Brandon Ingram – 17 PTS, 10 REB, 7 AST, 5-15 FG, 0-2 3FG, 7-7 FT -7 +/-
Barnes and Ingram make All-Star case, defeating Pacers 115-101
Since I wrote the recap for this game already I’ll give you the recap of the recap here. Scottie Barnes and Brandon Ingram? All Stars. The duo combined for 56 points, 14 rebounds, and 17 assists. Ingram cooked Johnny Furphy on nearly every possession and Barnes carved the Indiana defense with precise passes.
Barnes playmaking tonight can only be described as surgical, he found guys on the break and in the halfcourt with the finesse of the world’s best doctors. Dissecting Indiana’s defense like that one robot did to that grape. He fell just one assist shy of tying his career-high.
Pascal Siakam tried his best to keep the Pacers in it. He really did. On multiple occasions he lit the Raptors’ up, scoring in bursts, the defense unable to contain him.
Siakam, relentless. A floater off a two foot stop. A step through finger roll. Regardless of how many points he scored it seemed they were making no ground. Like Sisyphus pushing the boulder up the hill.
In the fourth quarter, there was a small glimmer for the Pacers as they cut the lead down to four, but ultimately it had more to do with the Raptors missing than the Pacers beating them. And once the shots started falling again, the lead ballooned right back to 14. Capped off by Ingram proving that he in fact, could not be guareded by Furphy.
This was also by far Gradey Dick’s best game of the season, his outside shot still wasn’t falling, but he made up for it with leak outs and rebounding. In this game, he was deployed far more as a screener for Barnes, a role which seemed to suit him as he finished with 21 points and a career-high 11 rebounds.
It was a true team effort, as everyone who got rotational minutes scored. They started the game strong, something they’ve done more often and though the shot making abandoned them at times, they got just enough of it to secure the win.
Top Performers:
- Scottie Barnes – 26 PTS, 7 REB, 13 AST, 2 STL, 1 BLK, 10-16 FG, 1-3 3FG, 5-9 FT, +14 +/-
- Brandon Ingram – 30 PTS, 7 REB, 4 AST, 1 STL, 12-23 FG, 3-6 3FG, 3-4 FT 0 +/-
- Gradey Dick – 21 PTS, 11 REB, 3 AST, 9-15 FG, 1-5 3FG, 2-3 FT +10 +/-
Raptors’ collapse fuels Clippers’ 117-121 overtime victory
Again, this is a game I already covered with the Quick React but I’ll give you some of my additional thoughts here. The way I see it, this game exemplified three of the biggest issues I currently see with the Raptors.
Number one, Ivica Zubac was a BIG problem for the Raptors, he had 16 points and 14 rebounds and he deterred Murray-Boyles from the rim on numerous occasions. Until Jakob Poeltl is healthy (whatever that even looks like now), the Raptors are simply too small to deal with bruising big men. A real problem as we head towards the playoffs as nearly every Eastern Conference contender has one.
Number two, the offense at times is far too predictable, and has easily been stalled by zone defenses. When the team is getting stops and running the floor things are fine. The defense has driven their hot starts against the Pacers and Clippers, but as both teams started making shots the Raptors had to face a set defense more and more with diminishing returns. While a lot of that is solved with the return of RJ Barrett, Jakob Poeltl, and Immanuel Quickley, I think there’s a larger problem. The team is unable to create advantages and capitalize on them consistently. There’s no go-to action that can create good shots. The Clippers went on big runs to start the third and fourth quarters, and the Raptors offense was struggling big time, which brings me to my next point.
Number three, I’m scared that Ingram’s lackluster playmaking will be the team’s downfall in the playoffs. In this game it was ugly. He took some awful shots over multiple defenders and had five turnovers. There was one play where he rose up over two defenders for a jump shot while Sandro Mamukelashvili sat wide open under the basket calling for the ball. Now, he did make the shot, but that’s besides the point. Ingram’s shown this season that he often struggles to make quick reads when the double teams come. He often has to wait for someone to make themselves obviously open in his eye line and he rarely gets rid of the ball in a timely fashion. As the season progresses and the Raptors continue to play in more competitive games this is an issue that will prove extremely detrimental when opposing defenses hone in on it.
On the bright side, Jamal Shead took control of the game masterfully. He controlled the offense with the precision of a starting lead guard and his defense was even better. On the final possession of regulation he played picture perfect defense on Harden. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough as the Raptors only scored eight total points in the last eight minutes of the game, all by Barnes in overtime. Tough goings. I’m interested to see what happens at the trade deadline.
Top Performers:
- Jamal Shead – 15 PTS, 4 REB, 13 AST, 1 STL, 4-11 FG, 2-6 3FG, 5-6 FT, +5 +/-
- Gradey Dick – 15 PTS, 7 REB, 1 AST, 6-10 FG, 3-6 3FG +2 +/-
- Scottie Barnes – 24 PTS, 7 REB, 6 AST, 1 STL, 1 BLK 9-15 FG, 1-5 3FG, 2-3 FT +10 +/-
Raptors’ offensive issues shine bright in 93-110 loss to Lakers
If the Clippers game shone a light on the Raptors’ issues, this game broadcast them to the entire world. Lack of size. Inability to score against zones. Inefficiency. The list goes on and on. I have very low expectations for this road trip.
The Raptors inability to field a seven footer put Deandre Ayton in historic conversations as he became just the fourth Laker ever to score 20 points and grab 10 rebounds while shooting 100% from the field. Ayton is not that good at basketball and it speaks to how desperate the Raptors’ size issue has become. Murray-Boyles also was injured partway through this game so if you thought things were bad before, buckle up!
The Lakers also exploited Toronto’s shooting woes by turning to a zone defense often, and once again the Raptors were unable to do anything about it. It’s an area where Barrett is missed most, since he can actually get to the rim as well as knock down outside jumpers.
The game was even when Murray-Boyles left, but quickly spiraled out of control after that. Luka Dončić hit three after three, LeBron James picked apart the defense with drives, Rui Hachimura seemed to knock down every timely shot, and of course Dominayton lived up to his nickname.
Stat: The Raptors shot 26.2% from three this week, by far the worst in the league over that stretch. The 29th ranked 3P% was the New York Knicks, who shot 29.3%. The Raptors have somehow built a team lacking the two most important things in basketball: Size and shooting.
If only the Raptors had a six-foot seven guard on the bench who could deter teams from playing zone because he’s shooting 43.9% from deep this season…
Top Performers:
- Sandro Mamukelashvili – 20 PTS, 6 REB, 2 AST, 1 STL, 8-12 FG, 2-5 3FG, 2-5 FT, -13 +/-
- Collin Murray-Boyles – 11 PTS, 7 REB, 5 AST, 3 BLK 5-7 FG, 1-1 FT, -4 +/-
- Scottie Barnes – 22 PTS, 9 REB, 3 AST, 1 STL, 10-21 FG, 0-2 3FG, 2-4 FT -11 +/-
Raptor of the week: Collin Murray-Boyles
Raise your hand if you ever saw this question being asked this season:
Raptor film room: Can the Raptors survive a Collin Murray-Boyles injury?
At the start of the year, no one would have imagined the impact that the rookie would have on this season. And yet the above question is completely legitimate. Murray-Boyles is a difference maker. The way he’s stepped up in Poeltl’s absence is one of the only reasons the Raptors are winning basketball games. He may only measure at six-foot seven but his hustle measures much higher.
This week Murray-Boyles put up averages of 11.0 points, 7.0 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and 2.0 stocks while shooting 54.3% from the field and 75% from the free throw line. Against the 76ers he never shied away from Embiid and filled the stat sheet with 12 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists. Against Indiana his smaller size proved once again to be a non-factor, as he secured a double-double in the week’s only win. His production slowed slightly against the Clippers but he still managed to score in double digits, but unfortunately couldn’t grab a single defensive rebound. Then in just 25 minutes against the Lakers he had 11, 7, and 5 while blocking Dončić three times. His box score stats are slowly starting to catch up to the impact he’s having on the game.
I will also give a quick shout out to Shead, who stepped up in a big way during Quickley’s absence and has shown that his potential is far more than just a backup point guard.
Current Raptor of the Week standings:
- Scottie Barnes – 4 times
- Brandon Ingram – 2 times
- Collin Murray-Boyles – 2 times
- Ja’Kobe Walter – 1 time
Looking Ahead
Tuesday, January 20th – Raptors @ Warriors | 10:00pm ET on Sportsnet
Wednesday, January 21st – Raptors @ Kings | 10:00pm ET on TSN
Friday, January 23rd – Raptors @ Trail Blazers | 10:00pm ET on TSN
Sunday January 25th – Raptors @ Thunder | 7:00pm ET on TSN
Record Prediction: 1-3 Again this really depends on the extent of Murray-Boyles injury. The Warriors don’t have much size but at this point have more than Toronto. I’ll say that’s an L. The Kings are really bad, if the Raptors lose this one I’ll be quite sad. That’s a win. The Trail Blazers for some reason I feel like they’ll just feast against Toronto’s lack of size and shooting, Donovan Clingan just put up 17 rebounds against Sacramento… Loss. Do I need to say anything about the Thunder game? It’ll be a good measuring stick game but the Raptors are assuredly coming up short. 20+ point loss.
Weird stat: I’ll leave you with one more stat to close this one out. Ochai Agbaji had by far the best net-rating on the week for Toronto at +14.3. His defensive rating was far and away the best of rotation players, allowing 7 points per 100 possessions less than the next closest, Jamison Battle.
That’s a wrap on this week’s edition of Raptors Roundup, thank you for reading! Let’s have a wonderful week!
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