Perhaps it’s greatest to not even strive to determine the Raptors. Simply sit again and benefit from the trip, as bumpy and exhilarating and all around the map as it could be.
As a result of to dissect them would drive one bonkers, with them being so good on some nights and never so good on others; brutal for a half after which nice for one more. Up, down, throughout. Enjoyable and confounding and exhausting.
Simply sports activities, actually.
After 4 video games of pleasant depth and at instances impressed play, 4 video games that had been wildly entertaining and doubtful till the ultimate seconds, the Raptors dropped a stink bomb in an empty Scotiabank Area on Sunday however even then they tried to scrub up the stench with a stirring late-game run.
You might do the stats dump and have a look at the atrocious capturing and turnovers and a defence that appear disengaged at greatest and let all of the numbers let you know why the Raptors finally dropped a 114-105 resolution to the Portland Path Blazers. And, sure, these numbers would lay the story out in field-goal percentages for and towards, three-pointers made and missed and such minutia.
It wouldn’t inform the true story of the night time.
“It’s too dangerous that we had a kind of video games, to be trustworthy, as a result of I feel we’ve performed actually exhausting and difficult and actually targeted and all that stuff,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse mentioned.
“It was simply powerful to do every little thing tonight, we weren’t transferring, we weren’t pondering very nicely early.”
The perfect factor about this group, which continues to be very a lot within the discovery course of about itself, is it may even make horrid video games considerably enjoyable.
Trailing by as many as 34 factors with a couple of minute left within the first half, the Raptors didn’t pull the chute and take the remainder of the night time off. They performed higher and tougher towards a Portland workforce that was most likely coasting with such an enormous lead. The Raptors received inside 4 factors with a minute left earlier than Anfernee Simons settled issues with a few three-pointers.
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And that’s why it’s foolish to attempt to actually determine them out: Most groups would have turned tail and run, set it on cruise management to get the night time over with.
“They stored preventing and we didn’t actually have a lot of a basis to play from tonight, which suggests if we had been going to attempt to get again into it, we had been going to should make it somewhat funky on the market, which we did,” Nurse mentioned. “We did a reasonably good job of that and fought exhausting.”
It’s tough to seek out an excessive amount of good in a efficiency that features a 34-point deficit, and a whole lot of what transpired within the second half was a little bit of idiot’s gold given the realities of the sport.
Dalano Banton performed a bit — principally as a result of Pascal Siakam and Scottie Barnes had been having issue dealing with full-court strain — and getting a rookie some minutes can’t ever damage. Justin Champagnie made a few three-pointers, which had to assist his confidence, and Siakam scored 28 factors. However the total numbers, at instances, had been hideous.
At one level the Raptors had dedicated 10 turnovers and had solely 11 baskets. The Blazers had eight three-pointers earlier than the Raptors had six baskets. Toronto missed 14 of its first 15 field-goal makes an attempt. The Raptors’ 34 factors Toronto within the first half had been, not surprisingly, a season low.
The 34-point deficit Toronto confronted within the second quarter was one other “greatest of the season” second on an evening the place the Raptors couldn’t work out what to do till it was far too late.
“We had actually tremendous low vitality and normally we’ll strive anyone and everyone, preserve transferring guys round and attempt to discover a unit that works and we couldn’t actually get that achieved both,” Nurse mentioned.
“Normally we will get off to a 16-4 dangerous begin however normally you get to the half and also you say, ‘OK, it’s solely 9 or 11 or one thing,’ and we’re like ‘We’re really so much higher off than we most likely ought to be,’ however tonight it was so much worse than it most likely ought to have been.
“Simply collectively not able to go, starters, off the bench, anyone.”