Nothing goes in keeping with plan as Raptors fall to Warriors, drop fifth straight

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Scottie Barnes took the microphone at centre court docket and regarded out to the group earlier than the Toronto Raptors‘ last residence recreation till the Christmas holidays and wished everybody a contented vacation season. Then, with an enormous heat smile that has not been on show all that always to this point this season, Barnes mentioned “benefit from the recreation.”

The second-year wing did a terrific job. He certainly meant effectively. The vibes have been heat and fuzzy for crowd heavy on younger households profiting from the 6 p.m. begin. 

It was all downhill from there.

The Golden State Warriors are the defending NBA champions. Solely a idiot would depend them out regardless of arriving in Toronto with a shedding document, lacking Steph Curry and Toronto’s personal Andrew Wiggins (each because of damage) and sporting a ghastly 2-14 street document, the worst within the NBA, amazingly.

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So it could be a measure of how a lot the Raptors are hurting proper now that the Warriors knocked them again early and by no means let Toronto have a sniff in a 126-110 loss. The Raptors may neither successfully puncture the Warriors’ defence nor discover a technique to even briefly include the short-handed Warriors after they had the ball.

“Properly, I believe we’re going to have to protect higher, to start with,” mentioned Raptors head coach Nick Nurse. “… We definitely had a tricky time tonight. It wasn’t excellent. There wasn’t a complete lot of positives to take out of the defensive aspect particularly. We have been simply chasing all of them evening and never enjoying our schemes excellent … “

The Raptors have been coming off a pair of ‘encouraging’ losses towards Sacramento and Brooklyn that went all the way down to the wire. That wasn’t the case Sunday as Toronto – enjoying with out Gary Trent Jr. (quad soreness) and O.G. Anunoby (hip soreness) – misplaced for the fifth straight recreation and eighth time in 10 video games as their document slipped to 13-17. The Warriors improved to 15-16.

The field rating was a well-known one when you’ve been following alongside in what is popping out to be a really unusual season. They did a lot of the issues they got down to do every recreation: earn additional possessions by way of offensive rebounds (Toronto led 18-12); drive their opponent into extra turnovers than they make (17-14 Raptors, on this occasion) and hope that the general shot benefit (Toronto took 14 greater than the Warriors on Sunday) will translate into extra factors.

It’s a pleasant plan, however it has been failing most of the time as a result of the Raptors are high-volume missers – they shot simply 42.1 per cent from the ground Sunday – and somewhat beneficiant defenders, because the Warriors shot 53.1 per cent from the ground and 46.2 per cent from three. Groups have been taking pictures 53.3 per cent towards them  within the 4 lossed earlier than final evening and 38.8 per cent from deep.

Golden State was sparked by a career-high 43 factors from Jordan Poole, who did his injury on 14-of-23 taking pictures together with 5-of-11 from three. However it was the Warriors’ 30 assists on 42 made subject targets previous to the ultimate jiffy of rubbish time that stood out. The Warriors may get what they needed.

The Raptors? They performed offence like their solely device was a shovel.

Too many possessions have been drives into site visitors that neither collapsed the defence nor resulted in rather more than a contested two within the paint. When the Warriors went zone the Raptors had no reply by way of ball motion, participant motion or penetration, so the Warriors correctly stored it up.

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Pascal Siakam completed with 27 factors, 5 rebounds and 6 assists, Fred VanVleet had 22 factors, eight assists and 4 rebounds and Scottie Barnes had 17 factors and 5 rebounds, however collectively they shot 42.5 per cent and all of it regarded very tough. Malachi Flynn had some good moments off the bench with 16 factors, however even then he was 6-of-16.

Sigh. The issue with a staff just like the Warriors is that even with Curry and Wiggins out, they nonetheless have loads of weapons.

The Raptors? They don’t. Anunoby – one of many Raptors main scorers and their greatest defender – is anticipated to be again this week, however is that sufficient?

“It’s not likely a one-guy factor, actually, at this level,” mentioned VanVleet.  “Clearly having all of our greatest gamers helps, simply having all the highest guys. I don’t assume we’re actually constructed to have a ton of accidents. So we want our prime guys to be out there and to play their greatest. Clearly we’ll be glad to have him again, however we’ve received work to do with or with out him. He can shore up a few of these areas, however we’ve received work to do.”

Because the losses mount, they should work on a few of their softer abilities too: preserving optimistic, not permitting slumps and dangerous breaks to seep into their preparation or competitiveness. In could be a vicious cycle and the Raptors are the brink.

“The truth is, we’re not enjoying effectively,” mentioned Siakam. “… like regardless of the case is, like, we gotta play higher, that’s the primary factor. We received to get wins and we received to determine a technique to get a win after which type of construct on it, yeah, it’s exhausting for me to attempt to analyze all people however similar to us, like, we’ve to get a win.”

Early on it was Inexperienced who set the tone. The Raptors determined that leaving him uncovered from deep was an affordable gamble given he’s taking pictures 29 per cent this season. However Inexperienced settled into his wide-open seems to be properly and had three triples earlier than the sport was two minutes outdated on his technique to a 13-point first quarter.

Initially, the Raptors matched the Warriors – Siakam hit two fast threes and VanVleet had an extended one too, however the Warriors stored shifting the ball and the Raptors’ offence stagnated most of the time.

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One instance being how JaMychal Inexperienced and Ty Jerome doubled VanVleet on the finish of the primary quarter with the shot clock winding down and strung him out to the sideline till the usually unflappable level guard stepped out of bounds.

The Warriors led 36-26 after the primary quarter as Golden State shot 61.9 per cent from the ground and counted 11 assists on 13 made subject targets. The Raptors shot simply 40 per cent from the ground and had simply three assists on their eight subject targets.

Within the second quarter, Poole took over. The Raptors had lower the Warriors’ result in six when Poole received on a roll anchoring the Warriors’ bench unit. However he had assist.

Jonathan Kuminga – who was the seventh choose within the 2021 draft – scored on a swooping left-hand layup and received a steal on a weak entry cross from Scottie Barnes that ended up as a Poole three in transition because the Warriors shortly pushed the lead out to 13. Poole went on to attain 15 of his 25 first-half factors within the second quarter as Golden State took a 68-54 lead into the half.

Toronto wanted to push again within the third quarter. As a substitute, they discovered the outlet getting deeper beneath them.

The offence stalled out solely – they shot simply 10-of-28 within the third and 4-of-14 from deep because the Warriors settled again into their zone and the Raptors gave them no purpose to vary it up. In the meantime, Poole and Thompson scored 18 factors mixed on 9 whole pictures.

The Warriors led 102-80 to start out the fourth quarter and have been by no means threatened.

The Raptors? Their issues are solely starting as they head on the street for a tough three-game street journey beginning towards Philadelphia Monday, then face the red-hot Knicks on Wednesday and finish in Cleveland on Friday.

The Raptors? Their issues are solely starting as they head on the street for a tough three-game street journey beginning towards Philadelphia Monday, then face the red-hot Knicks on Wednesday and finish in Cleveland on Friday. They get a break for Christmas and a three-game homestand after, but when something the standard of the opponents is even higher.  There’s not a delicate touchdown in sight. 

“It’s exhausting to remain optimistic if you go on the market and it appears like the identical end result. However we’ve to discover a method,” mentioned Siakam. “Now we have to dig deep. It’s straightforward to have power when the whole lot goes [well]. The toughest half is when it appears like the whole lot goes not your method if you make a mistake, or it’s a 50-50 ball and so they get the ball and get a 3. When it appears like the whole lot is simply not figuring out, it’s exhausting to have power. However we’ve to seek out it. Now we have to seek out it.”

Joyful holidays? Not a lot, possibly.

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