Latest loss leaves Raps down 3-0
After their embarrassing loss on Tuesday, the Toronto Raptors blamed their poor effort for the defeat.
A lot of synonyms were used — passion, energy, focus — but the general message was the same: had they brought more spirit to proceedings, applied themselves a tiny bit more and generally looked like they believed in one another, they might be heading to Washington tied 1-1 instead of in a gruesome two-game hole.
If effort was the issue, the coaches’ game plans could still be effective. If effort was the issue, the players might still have the necessary talent and cohesion to come back. Not exerting maximum effort does not reflect well on anybody.
“At this point it’s just about pride,” reserve guard Greivis Vasquez said Friday. “Everything else we know how to do it. When we share the ball and we pass and we get teammates confidence, we are a different team. But when we play a little bit selfish and try to avenge things, it’s not going to happen. We have to play with toughness, share the ball, and play together.”
The Raptors played with more backbone on Friday evening.
But this team, as currently constructed, is plainly not good enough, with a style that is not yielding clean offensive looks and a lack of perimeter defence.
The Washington Wizards prevailed 106-99, and now the Raptors are down 3-0.
If they are to come back, they are going to have to defy 110 previous teams that have tried and failed to come back from that deficit. As the game got away from them in the second and third quarters, the Raptors doubled down on the tough shots they were making to start the game.
On back-to-back possessions, Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan took turn-around jumpers off virtually no movement.
DeRozan hit eight of his first 10 shots, and then missed 10 in a row in the middle of the game. Lowry, battling fatigue, injuries and a virus of some sort, went 5-for-22 from the field, looking totally gassed after the first quarter.
So many of his looks fell short. Contrast that to Washington’s John Wall, who was excellent yet again. Wall was brilliant, probing the Raptors’ inadequate defence in the pick-and-roll, and dictating the action in transition.
DeRozan was hitting some impossible shots early on: a pair of three-pointers from the elbow, a spot where he only hit one during the entire regular season, a tough runner off of the glass and a series of mid-range jumpers.
He scored 20 points in the first quarter, a franchise post-season record. When that disappeared, the Raptors were left with precious little. On the second-last possession before the half, DeRozan sized up Wizards swingman Otto Porter, who has done such an excellent defensive job this series. DeRozan waved his hand, signaling for his teammates to clear out. He attempted to shake Porter with the dribble, failing. He then attempted a fall-away jumper with a foot on the three-point arc. It drew nothing but air.
This was the Raptors giving their all. The problem is not the effort; it is the framework.