The Toronto Raptors have been struggling lately even though they have been winning games here and there. The defence has been atrocious and shooting has not been consistent. The Los Angeles Clippers come into this one desperate for wins as their playoff window is closing. They sit in the 10th spot behind the Denver Nuggets fighting for the 8th spot that is now occupied by the Utah Jazz. The Raptors have yet to find that rhythm on both ends of the court that has given them great success throughout the year and are in the midst of a late season slump.
The Raptors came out of the gate strong and were playing well on both sides of the basketball. Before you knew it, the Raptors were up 30-14 on the LA Clippers and seemed to have turned the tide on this recent slump. CJ Miles returned to the lineup after missing a few games due to illness which made this team 100% healthy. The Clippers were a hungry and desperate team and they showed their resiliency in the latter part of that first quarter. The Clippers bench led by Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell got to work. Toronto has a history of having trouble guarding Harrell and he showed off his Raptor killing ability one more time. Harrell had three dunks in a span of two minutes and the Raptors strong start turned into a 35-28 lead after 12 minutes.
DeRozan and the Raptors came out strong in front of their home crowd.
The Bench Mob with their ball movement were able to create good looks and their energy led to multiple stops. Jakob Poeltl played a lot better and was a factor on the defensive end leading to fast break opportunities in the other direction. Siakam and the bench were running down the court after every missed shot. The Raptors pace resulted in a 54-39 lead midway through the second quarter, but the Raptors had to close out the quarter strong. The second half of the second quarter was a replay of the first quarter. Toronto goes up a large number of points and lets it slip away as Tobias Harris and the Clippers stormed back to cut the lead to 60-53 at half. A disappointing finish to what seemed like a strong first half for the Toronto Raptors. They played well but took their foot off the gas in both quarters and closing quarters is essential in maintaining momentum and keeping the crowd involved.
The Toronto Raptors have not showed their dominance at home in the past few games and did not come out strong in the second half. The offence looked disjointed and their shots were bricking off the rim. The offence may be lacking, but you must hold up the defence which is what the Raptors did not do. The Clippers were able to get JV into foul trouble who was the one effective offensive option the Raptors had and he sat out most of the third. The Clippers took the lead and were playing well. Toronto had a glimpse of hope when they started to push the pace and started to find easy baskets and good open looks in transition. CJ Miles converted on a couple big 3s and swung the momentum back into the Raptors favor. The quarter ended with both teams at 80 a piece. Raptors lost this quarter 27-20.
Siakam's rim running led to easy opportunities for him on the fast break.
With all the 3-point shooting the Raptors have increased this season, the amount of times they head to the free throw line has decreased. The Los Angeles Clippers were attacking the rim a lot more and earned themselves a lot more free throws which kept them in the game. No matter how many baskets the Raptors made, their defence was not consistent enough to keep the Clippers away. The Clippers got off to a 16-2 run and the game looked out of hand. Casey was mixing lineups around and was trying to found something that worked. JV had been sitting on the bench for a while before he was inserted back into the game. With JV in the middle, the Raptors made a late run to attempt to win this game back. JV was able to hold off any rim attacks and keep Jordan off of the offensive glass effectively. The deficit was cut down to 5 points with less than 3 minutes to go.
Lou Williams, who had already scored 11 points in the fourth quarter, was far from done. The leading fourth point scorer in the NBA ahead of LeBron James was feeling it. To say he was hitting his shots was an understatement, the man was on fire and did not see a shot he did not like. Casey tried to put Miles and VanVleet on him to have some spacing on offense and someone to guard Lou, but the ex-Raptor got his revenge. Lou nailed an And1 on VanVleet and followed up with two tough 1-on-1 baskets on VanVleet. Anyone watching would say that those shots were bad shots, but Lou was splashing every shot. The deficit grew to 103-112 with 1:30 left. Kyle Lowry turned the ball over on the next possession and that was all she wrote. The Clippers had won the quarter 26-37 and dominated the second half of this game. A much-needed win for the Los Angeles Clippers and another troubling performance for the Toronto Raptors.
Toronto Raptors Los Angeles Clippers
106 117
Player of the Game
Jonas Valanciunas
20 minutes, 16 points, 10 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 turnover, 7-11 shooting, 1-1 3PT, 1-1 FT, +9
This was not a great group of players to pick from and JV did play the 4th least minutes tonight out of the 10 players who played but his impact can not be understated. If not for foul trouble, the tale of this game could have been completely different. The ability to box out and use his length and size to alter shots is a quality that JV only seems to have. He is our best defensive rebounder and was a wall on the back line of the Raptors defence. This provided the Raptors the boost it needed to make a late surge but it was too late. JV’s importance is too valuable for him to get caught up in foul trouble and will need to learn to defend without fouling or picking his spots.
Things To Take Away From This Game
1. Defence
The Raptors poor defence caught up to them as they could not pull off the same fourth quarter comeback they did against Brooklyn a couple nights ago. This is a better team who has something to play for and the Clippers were hungry for a win. The Clippers wanted this game a lot more than the Raptors did. The effort, energy and the second and third rotations were not there. Toronto is a very capable team on the defensive end as depicted by having a top 5 defensive team for the majority of this season, but has lacked that quality as of late. Too many straight line drives off of pick-and-rolls and bad close-outs. The guards and wings for the Clippers were heading downhill every time which made for great shot opportunities and openings to find teammates. This defence is currently atrocious and the players need to look at themselves and not rely on the coach for this one.
2. Bench
The entire Raptors bench had a negative rating when they were on the floor. The starters played well and were relied on heavily due to the lack of production from the bench. The captain of the bench, Fred VanVleet, was a -16 on the afternoon. Two members of the Clippers bench combined for 45 points and were a +20 together (Harrell and Williams). This Raptors bench, which is ranked number one in the league, has picked up bad habits from the starters and are not able to defend with the same consistency that they have had for the majority of the year. The team is currently in a slump and no player is exempt from this slump it seems like.
Fred VanVleet had trouble keeping up with the Clipper guards and was a -16 on the floor.
3. Around The Corner
With 8 games left in the season, the Raptors have chosen a terrible time to go into a midst of a slump. The Raptors have high expectations and hopes this season but with the way they are playing at this moment, a first round exit is not hard to imagine. The way this team solves this problem is to look at themselves and find that spark they had. This team was clicking on all cylinders not too long ago and needs to trust in each other. The defence needs to make multiple rotations, closing out possessions, playing with energy and heart. The Raptors have a day of rest before they face off against the Denver Nuggets who are also hungry and desperate for a win. Another good test and it will be interesting to see if any lineup changes might occur to swing this team back on the right foot.
Pictures courtesy of:
http://www.nba.com/raptors/gallery/rapsclippers-032518