One day after falling to the Sacramento Kings in controversial fashion, the Toronto Raptors flew down the Pacific coast for a matchup with the powerhouse Los Angeles Clippers.
The Raptors had won the previous four meetings between these two teams, but saw that run of success end with a hard-fought 123-115 loss. Here are five takeaways from Monday night’s action:
Where’s the D?
Death, taxes and the Raptors’ defence getting torched. All three are certainties these days as Toronto allowed its opponent to score at least 102 points for the eighth straight outing. After limiting the Clippers to 23 points in the first quarter, the Raptors surrendered 30-plus in each of the final three frames while allowing Los Angeles to shoot 53 per cent for the game.
If Toronto wants to consider itself a serious contender, this concerning trend is going to have to be the first thing cleaned up. As a defensive-minded coach, this stretch must be adding years to Dwane Casey’s life.
“It seems like everybody we’ve played in the past couple weeks we’ve turned into an offensive slugfest,” Casey told reporters following the game. “I think our guys are trying defensively but we’re not getting it done and getting stops when we need to.
“We’re not going to go anywhere if we don’t get teams under 50 per cent. That’s our goal going into these next games, is to get better at something defensively. We’ve got enough offence.”
Floor General Battle
The marquee matchup of this game was undoubtedly Kyle Lowry versus Chris Paul. Both point guards lived up to their all-star status as Paul showed off his ball-on-a-string dribbling, breaking down the defence with his creative passes and proficient shooting from any range. The 31-year-old sealed the Clippers’ victory with a three-pointer and three-point play on back-to-back possessions with under three minutes to play.
Lowry struggled to find his stroke for most of the contest, but after the Raptors fell behind by as many as 17 points, he helped lead a run to get his team back in it in the fourth quarter. The Villanova product finished with a game-high 27 points to go along with seven assists and six rebounds.
Taming a Griffin…For a Half
Injuries and off-court drama plagued Blake Griffin a season ago, but he’s returned to the floor this year as his typical all-star self. Raptors rookie Pascal Siakam drew the tough defensive assignment to open the game, and it looked like Griffin was going to be in for a big night. The former first overall pick went after Siakam early, sending him to the bench with two quick fouls.
Patrick Patterson took up the torch and clamped down on the Clippers’ superstar. Griffin didn’t register a first-half point with Patterson on the floor and had only five at the break. It was deja vu to start the third as Griffin exploited the mismatch against Siakam, netting Los Angeles’s first 10 points of the second half. He came alive again down the stretch to end the evening with a robust 26 points, seven boards and seven helpers. You can only contain the big man for so long.
“He’s doing everything for us,” Clippers head coach Doc Rivers said in his post-game press conference. “The fact that he can bring the ball up the floor and make decisions as a big on the break gives us another dimension offensively. He can pass in traffic, he can touch pass to [DeAndre Jordan], there’s not a lot of guys that can make that pass. He’s just been great for us, I love him.”
Hack-a-Jordan is Still Brutal
The least exciting strategy in basketball reared its ugly head on Monday. With the Raptors trailing by 14 points with just over four minutes to play in the third quarter, Casey resorted to the ‘Hack-a-Jordan,’ intentionally fouling the Los Angeles centre on three consecutive possessions. A career 42 per cent free-throw shooter, Jordan responded by draining five of his six attempts. The Raptors quickly abandoned the tactic, putting fans out of their misery.
Sloppy Start
Just one night after participating in an opening quarter that saw 64 combined points, the Raptors found themselves in a very different type of game over the first 12 minutes. Both Toronto and Los Angeles sit in the top five in the NBA in terms of protecting the ball, but the two teams combined for an uncharacteristic 10 turnovers in the first quarter.
As a result, the game opened at a sloppy, disjointed pace with the Clippers holding a 23-19 lead after one period. In addition to the turnovers, both squads struggled from the floor as L.A. hit on just 43 per cent of its attempts compared to Toronto’s 39 per cent clip. Boy, would that ever change.