Raptors’ funk continues with another ugly loss
It’s time to light up the Pat Signal.
Patrick Patterson won’t cure all of the many things that ail the Toronto Raptors defensively, but the squad’s top defender has been sorely missed as he nurses a sore knee.
Patterson seemed like a good bet to return on Sunday against the Phoenix Suns, but instead had to miss his 10th game out of Toronto’s past 12, a dismal 115-103 loss to the Suns.
Phoenix shot 51 per cent from the field, was granted continual free passage to the basket and also launched open three-pointer after open three- pointer, resulting in Toronto’s first three- game losing streak since November of 2015.
Still, the team is 28-16 and the mood in the locker-room wasn’t as sombre as one would expect.
“It’s a little bit of adversity. But we’re professionals,” said Kyle Lowry after a forgettable evening that included 1-for-9 shooting from beyond the three-point arc. “No one’s feeling sorry for us. We’ll be fine. We get back to work … Just have to get back to work, back to basics. We’re not panicking. I think we understand what the situation is, we just gotta figure it out.”
Eric Bledsoe went off for a career-high 40 points, adding 13 assists for good measure — the first Suns’ 40-10 games since Steve Nash in 2006. The Suns also clobbered the Raptors 45-35 on the boards.
DeMar DeRozan had 22 for the Raptors, but shot just 6-for-17. Lowry and Terrence Ross combined to go 2-for-15 on three-point attempts.
To make matters worse, DeRo- zan landed on the foot of Jonas Valanciunas in the fourth quarter. He managed to stay in the game, but eventually came off and was limping afterward and said he was “a little sore.” DeRozan was trying to remain optimistic about his status going forward. “I hope ( it will go away quickly),” he said. “I try to be a hopeful guy all my life so we’ll see.”
The team, which boasted one of the most efficient offences in NBA history for much of the season, has now shot under 40 per cent in three straight games and 26 per cent or worse on three-pointers in each of those outings.
Still, the defensive wheels have fallen off, and Dwane Casey doesn’t want to blame the failings of the offence for it.
“When your shots aren’t falling, you have to make it up on the defensive end and we did not do that tonight,” Casey said. “We tried to blitz (Bledsoe) and he got around our whole team. We didn’t find a way when our offence wasn’t involved.”
Lowry was ejected after an accidental flagrant foul against Brandon Knight and has shot just 17-for48 from the field in this rare losing streak.
Lucas Nogueira made a big early impact in his return though, hitting all five of his first quarter shot attempts for 11 points, powering the Raptors early, but did little from there. Nogueira had been out for two games, plus most of another, after taking a shot to the head.
Patterson is expected to play either Tuesday against the mighty San Antonio Spurs at home, or the next night in Memphis.