Vancouver Sun

Suns take advantage of Raps’ ailing defence

- RYAN WOLSTAT Twitter: @WolstatSun

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 so rely missed while 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 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 careerhigh 40 points, adding 13 assists for good measure — the first Suns’ 4010 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, DeRozan 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.”

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.”

With only a 5-5 record over the past 10 games, including two

straight losses and a tough backto-back looming, the last thing the Raptors could afford to do Sunday was fall to one of the NBA’s worst teams. Instead of getting revenge for a Dec. 30 loss in Phoenix, the Raptors led nearly the whole way, only to turn in a horrific fourth quarter that saw the home side outscored 33-18.

Lowry was ejected after an accidental flagrant foul against Brandon Knight and has shot just 17-for48 from the field during this rare losing streak.

With nearly half of the regular season still to be played, the club opted for caution with Patterson, who can guard three positions. “Pat’s gonna be another day right now,” Casey said before the game.

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 now expected to play either Tuesday against the mighty San Antonio Spurs at home, or the next night in Memphis, which would give the Raptors a boost to conclude the tough back-to-back.

The Raptors got 23 points out of 15 Phoenix turnovers, but if they weren’t forcing the visitors into mistakes, they were getting scored on or bricking jump shots in the forgettabl­e affair.

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