Raptors film room: Are they play-in bound?

Can the Raptors stave off the play-in? Not if they keep losing like this. A tough loss without Jakob Poeltl at the hands of Kevin Durant and the Houston Rockets.

Their lack of size hurt them tonight:

Here’s Louis Zatzman on the loss:

Asteropaios has a rough go of it in The Iliad. The Trojan ally finds himself facing Achilles. He puts up a good fight, but ultimately his purpose only serves to validate Achilles’ own might. It’s not through any fault of Asteropaios himself. He fights well — or at least as well as he can. He throws his spears at Achilles, and when those fail, Achilles strikes him down in the river Scamander. 

In many ways, the Toronto Raptors must find themselves empathizing with Asteropaios. They fell to the Houston Rockets despite throwing more or less the best spears in their quiver. For a time, RJ Barrett was cutting to the rim with ease, curling option screens to the paint, finishing everything he touched. Sandro Mamukelashvili was driving and finishing. Scottie Barnes was hitting triples, drawing closeouts, and thundering down the lane for one-hand gathers into one-hand-monster dunks. 

The Raptors were limited. Jonathan Mogbo played seven first-half minutes due to Toronto’s limited big depth, and his presence desperately limited the offence. Jamal Shead’s offensive struggles of late continued, as he often was forced to work in stasis, which is not a strength of his. 

And Toronto’s high-water mark, Toronto’s best punch, did little more than draw blood from the Rockets. (Indeed, Asteropaios was perhaps most famous, if he is famous at all, for being the only Trojan to actually draw blood from Achilles with one of his thrown spears.) While the Raptors threw haymaker after haymaker, the Rockets calmly deflected those punches and redirected the blows. Kevin Durant hit everything he threw at the rim, even finding himself able to score over Barnes — a rare feat this season. He scored 22 in the first half on 12 shots. 

The post Raptors film room: Are they play-in bound? first appeared on Raptors Republic.