With their season-long losing streak reaching six games, things have quickly gone from discouraging to miserable for the struggling Raptors.
Toronto's most recent loss only added to the misery, as it failed to make the most of an excellent performance from Pascal Siakam in a three-point overtime loss to its rivals in Philadelphia. At 13-18, the Raptors have now lost 9 of their last 11 games, and the team is in desperate search of answers before the season gets away from them.
Coming into Monday night's game against the 76ers, Raptors head coach Nick Nurse stressed the importance of remaining even-keeled by giving some perspective regarding the nature of the team's most recent losses. With his optimism, Nurse provided a reminder that Toronto has simply come up a play or two short in each of its most recent losses outside of Sunday's 16-point loss to Golden State and a 12-point loss to Orlando.
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“You’ve gotta be careful not to overreact,” Nurse said pregame, according to Doug Smith of the Toronto Star.
“Other than (Sunday) night in this slump, we had our chance to beat another team: Brooklyn, that is rolling with two superstar machines that are rolling; (the Sacramento) game went to the buzzer; first Orlando game went to the buzzer. (Sunday) night wasn’t very good or very much fun, I admit it.”
Unfortunately for the Raptors, the loss to the 76ers was yet another one of the close losses that Nurse was referring to.
A closer look at the recent losing streak is a visualization of how frustrations mount:
- Dec. 9: Magic 113, Raptors 109 — Fred VanVleet misses jumper to tie the game with five seconds remaining.
- Dec. 11: Magic 111, Raptors 99 — Starters shoot a combined 22-of-59 (37.2 percent) from the field.
- Dec. 14: Kings 124, Raptors 123 — VanVleet misses potential game-tying 3 with four seconds remaining.
- Dec. 16: Nets 119, Raptors 116 — Kyrie Irving drains game-winning 3 as time expires.
- Dec. 18: Warriors 126, Raptors 110 — Toronto trails by as many as 22 points to a Golden State team down Stephen Curry and Andrew Wiggins.
- Dec. 19: 76ers 104, Raptors 101 — Toronto is outscored 15-5 in final 9:15 of game time (regulation and overtime) after leading by seven in the fourth quarter.
While Siakam led all scorers with 38 points on 13-of-27 shooting against the 76ers, the rest of the team was 24-of-61 (39.3 percent) from the field and 8-of-32 (25.0 percent) from 3-point range, including a combined 15 points on 6-of-24 shooting from Scottie Barnes and VanVleet.
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Despite the struggles outside of Siakam, Toronto had its chances to win against a streaking Philadelphia team featuring Joel Embiid, James Harden, and Tobias Harris.
If just one of Barnes or VanVleet played slightly better, this is a completely different story.
“We were a couple of 3s away from winning by double digits if I just have an average game," VanVleet said of his performance against the 76ers. "So this one’s definitely on me.”
Making matters worse is that VanVleet had been on a tear coming into Monday night's game, averaging 33.3 points on 50.7 percent shooting in Toronto's previous three games, two of which came down to the final possession.
On the whole, shot-making and the half-court offense have been issues for Toronto all season. "Make shots" would be a simple solution, if the Raptors were shooting better than 33.4 percent on 3-pointers considered as "open" or "wide open" this season. They were 10-of-34 on such shots in the loss to the Sixers, which lends more credence to the notion that maybe that's just who this team is.
Through it all, Toronto still has had opportunities to win.
While the Raptors seem close to making a breakthrough, their most recent stretch suggests that fortune has not been on their side and the road ahead doesn't get much easier:
- Dec. 21 at Knicks, who entered the week on a seven-game win streak.
- Dec. 23 at Cavaliers, owners of the NBA's best home record.
- Dec. 27 vs. Clippers, who are now back at full strength following the return of Paul George and Kawhi Leonard.
- Dec. 29 vs. Grizzlies, one of the best teams in the Western Conference.
- Dec. 30 vs. Suns, another one of the Western Conference's best teams with title aspirations.
It has now been two weeks since Siakam said he felt the team was on the verge of making a run, and while recent developments have not supported his notion, it is worth noting that at this time last year, the Raptors were just one game better (14-17) than they are now (13-18).
Time is ticking for Toronto's window to make a season turnaround, but it won't be easy. That said, if the team takes heed to Nurse's advice and doesn't overreact, a statement win before the calendar year ends could be enough to build momentum moving forward.
