There is only one thing to do when a winning streak ends, and that’s to start another one.
The Toronto Raptors didn’t have long to rinse out the taste of a frustrating road loss to the Charlotte Hornets on Saturday night, when they blew a 12-point lead with 5:57 to play before losing in overtime.
It was the Raptors’ first stumble so far in what has been a charmed season; the first time they lost to a team they probably should have beaten. The Hornets were playing on the second night of a back-to-back, the Raptors were coming off two days’ rest. Even with the win, the Hornets improved to just 6-14. The Raptors’ loss, meanwhile, dropped them to 14-6 before Sunday night.
Prior to that, Toronto had been flawless in taking advantage when circumstances were in its favour. Over their nine-game streak, the Raptors nabbed five wins over the lowly Brooklyn Nets (two), Indiana Pacers (two) and Washington Wizards, three teams that have combined for nine wins. Another win came against the Philadelphia 76ers, playing without Joel Embiid, Paul George and Kelly Oubre, and another over the Hornets. The Cavaliers were short-handed and playing on back-to-backs in both of the Raptors’ wins over them in November.
None of which invalidates what Toronto has achieved. Good teams take advantage of the opportunities the schedule provides, but really good ones hold their own during the periods when the tables turn.
Which is the situation the Raptors found themselves in New York on Sunday night: playing a quality opponent and themselves coming off the short rest (having gone into overtime against Charlotte), while also having to make do without RJ Barrett (knee) and Jakob Poeltl, who was held out to manage the back condition he’s been hampered with at times this season.
So in that sense, Toronto falling 116-94 to the rested Knicks was predictable. New York was up by 24 points with 14 minutes played as the Knicks hit nine of their first 13 threes while the Raptors came out of the gate shooting one for their first eight from deep. Toronto dug in from there — three straight second-quarter triples by Scottie Barnes (18 points, five rebounds, five assists, 4-of-7 from deep) helped pull Toronto within seven at half. They eventually shaved the Knicks’ lead down to three with seven minutes to play in the third quarter thanks to three straight triples by Immanuel Quickley (19 points, eight assists, four made threes on 10 attempts). But the Raptors’ fatigue began to show, especially defensively as their rotations slowed down, and on the glass where the Knicks used their size advantage to ring up a 61-40 edge, including a 25-14 advantage on the offensive boards. The Knicks knocked off a 16-1 run in the third after the Raptors had made it close to open an 18-point lead, and the Raptors couldn’t pull themselves back into the game a second time.
-
-
The Raptors Show
Sportsnet’s Blake Murphy and two-time NBA champion Matt Bonner cover all things Raptors and the NBA. Airing every weekday live on Sportsnet 590 The FAN from 11 a.m.-noon ET.
Takeaways:
1. Only the beginning: Despite having lost consecutive games for the first time in a month, the Raptors remain at 14-7 and tied with the Knicks (13-6) for second place in the Eastern Conference — two games behind the Pistons, which have lost two straight after having their 13-game winning streak snapped by Boston last week. There isn’t a person in the Raptors organization who wouldn’t have signed up for that scorecard at the quarter point of the season.
But all that has done is get the Raptors into the dance. They’ve banked wins while the schedule has been favourable, but they will need to play at close to their current level from here on out, and it won’t be easy. Including the loss to the Knicks, six of their next 10 games are against teams with records over .500. Meanwhile, for all their success, it’s not like the Raptors have separated themselves in a hectic Eastern Conference. They are only one-and-a-half games up on seventh-place Orlando, for example. The Raptors’ great start is just that.
2. CMB and the RnB: It’s been a little bit of an uneven road for the Raptors’ rookie. He’s had to manage an injury coming out of training camp, missed some time with an illness and then a mild knee sprain set him back slightly. In the meantime, the Raptors were rolling, so the rotation was proving hard to crack. All of that said, he’s shown more than enough to be excited about where his game will end up when he’s got some more experience and development under his belt.
It’s just such a bonus that at age 20, Murray-Boyles routinely has NBA veterans commenting on how strong he is. Kayla Gray relayed during the broadcast that Knicks wing Josh Hart made a comment to that effect to the Raptors bench during the game. But it’s the feel and basketball IQ that go with the physical attributes that make it all so compelling.
Finishing with 11 points (on 5-of-6 shooting) and eight rebounds — four on the offensive end — against one of the biggest and most rugged rebounding teams in the NBA is impressive enough. But the third-quarter sequence where he caught a pass over-the-shoulder on the break and finished, and then stole a pass from Hart and went the other way for the dunk, shows a player who is very comfortable with the NBA-level thinking and processing. It bodes well.
3. Quickley coming on: It’s not quite two years since the Raptors traded OG Anunoby, Precious Achuiwa and Malachi Flynn to the Knicks for RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley and the draft pick that ended up becoming Jonathan Mogbo. Given the way the past two seasons have gone for the respective clubs, you’d have to say the Knicks came out ahead on the deal, as Anunoby (out last night with a hamstring injury) was an essential piece on two teams that have played in five playoff series over two seasons.
But with the Raptors looking like a team that has a clue this year, the thinking behind the deal on their end has come into sharper focus. Barrett has morphed into a Swiss Army knife on offence, putting up career-best efficiency numbers before a sprained knee kept him out of the past four games, a stretch in which the Raptors posted the lowest offensive rating in the NBA. And after a slow start, Quickley has signalled that he might be the ‘above average’ NBA point guard his contract says he should be.
He came into the Knicks game averaging 15.9 points, 6.1 assists, 4.6 rebounds with 1.2 steals while shooting 40 per cent from three since Oct. 27th. His defence has been improved, perhaps even positive, and as he gets more reps as a starting NBA point guard — something that has essentially been new to him since leaving the Knicks — you can see his playmaking get sharper. His hard drive to gain a paint touch and the deft drop pass to Barnes — wide-open when the second defender came to help on Quickley — at the end of the first half was just one example.
But his superpower is his ability to make threes in a variety of ways. His flurry of three in the middle of the third quarter helped pull Toronto within three points, which was as close as Toronto would get. Right now, Anunoby remains the best single player in that trade, so by that metric, the Knicks came out on top. But continued quality performances from Barrett and Quickley this season could shift that perception.
4. Because it’s the Cup: The Raptors and Knicks will connect in a game that really matters on Dec. 9th when the Knicks travel to Toronto for the quarterfinals of the NBA Cup. While both Sunday’s match-up and the one next Tuesday count in the regular season standings — and the way the Eastern Conference is bunched up so far this season, head-to-head matchups as the primary tie breaker could be significant come playoff time — it’s the latter contest that will determine which club heads to Las Vegas for play in the semifinals on Saturday, Dec. 13th. That game will likely be a little more precise measure of where the Knicks and Raptors stand in the Eastern Conference hierarchy. The Knicks will likely have Anunoby in the line-up and the Raptors will hopefully have Barrett and Poeltl.
5. Ingram tired? He might be. I was almost surprised it was Poeltl the Raptors elected to sit on the second night of a back-to-back and not Ingram. Sunday night was the forward’s 21st game of the season. He hasn’t missed a start, this after playing just 18 games last year. The 39 minutes he played against Charlotte in overtime were the most he’s played in two years. He missed his last nine shots against the Hornets and his first six against the Knicks. He righted things a little from that point and finished 4-of-11 from the floor for 14 points. But he was a team-worst -22 for his 32 minutes, was an uncharacteristic 4-of-7 from the free-throw line and on several of his five turnovers he looked like he didn’t have the juice to explode into a gap and make a play as the Knicks swarmed. It’s a good sign that the Raptors haven’t had to coddle Ingram in any shape or fashion, but as the starts and minutes mount, it might not be the worst idea to find a break here or there for someone who hasn’t exactly made durability his calling card over his career.
