Mired in unfamiliar territory
Inconsistent defence, spotty offence put Raps one point out of playoffs
These are strange times, indeed, for the Raptors.
With a quarter of their shortened NBA season now come and gone, they are living a topsy-turvy existence:
The team that used to bury opponents blows big leads. The team that could figure out ways to win can’t close out tight games. The team that was among the defensive elite muddles through somewhere in the middle of the 30-team NBA. The team that once used the first quarter of a season to pull away from the pack finds itself looking up at the final playoff spot.
Strange times, indeed.
“I think we’re still just trying to figure things out and it’s just a tough spot to be in because we’re used to being the team that’s … 15-3 right now,” Kyle Lowry said after the Raptors fell to 7-11 on Wednesday night. “We’re used to being that team.”
They aren’t. Not by a long stretch.
“If this happens (a loss to Milwaukee) when you’re at the top, it looks a little different. But, us being 7-11, right now things are just, like, ‘Wow this is unfamiliar territory.’ ”
The reasons are multitudinous. The defence has been good at times, bad at times and never consistently great. The Raptors foul too often (“We’re a lot more handsy,” Lowry said) and they go long stretches where they can’t keep the ball in front of them.
“I think we’re just still trying to figure out rotations,” Lowry said. “I think we’re still trying to figure out how good we could be defensively.”
The offence has been OK but spotty too often. They tend to take the easy way out at the tough moments in games, moments in the past few years they would settle down, move the ball, get great shots and stop opposing runs.
To be fair, these are not the Raptors of old and if the period of adjustment has been too long for some, it is understandable that it’s taken some time.
Chris Boucher is being asked to play extended minutes with great responsibility for the first time in his career. Aron Baynes is new to the system and is far more limited then the veterans he’s replacing. Stanley Johnson sat almost the entire 2019-20 season and is now a key backup. They represent three of Toronto’s most important seven players and things are not coming quickly.
OG Anunoby is moving between small forward and power forward with a little bit of centre thrown in for good measure, an ever-changing and new role. Pascal Siakam has been spotty, far more often average than above average, and he needs to be consistently better. And even Lowry, still a team leader who does all the intangibles as well as ever, has yet to pop a series of startling games.
Everyone has been just a bit off too often. The 7-11 record may not be fair, given the number of games they’ve been in but unable to win, but it’s the reality.
“I think there’s been a lot of trial and error, a lot of experimentation, just trying to figure out the rotations and who to get in there,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said. “We’re doing a lot of good things, but we need to do a few more and eliminate some glaring mistakes here and there.”
To be fair, the Raptors have not played themselves into some hole from which there is no escape.
Play began Thursday with them just one game out of the Eastern Conference playoffs and four games out of being one of the top four seeds. To think the season is somehow lost after 25 per cent of the games have been played is foolish and the concentration remains on picking off each game as it comes rather than thinking about moves to be made months from now.
There is reason for some optimism as long as they tend to the problems of consistency that have plagued them and as long as they tighten up just a few loose aspects of their play.
“We’re not that far,” guard Fred VanVleet said. “Start looking at the standings, look at the teams in front of you, look at the records across the league: There are good teams that aren’t playing their best right now all over.
“Just understand the situation and the scenario and keep perspective on things and understand we still have a chance to make things right. I’m very confident that we will.”