The Toronto Raptors played a forgetful game against Charlotte Hornets Friday night in a contest where they seemed to forget all of the factors that made them second best team in the East throughout the first half of the season. All of a sudden they’ve lost their second consecutive game. The 113-78 loss to Charlotte matches the 10th-worst road loss in franchise history. Here are my takeaways on Toronto’s largest loss of the season.
Kemba is King
In a battle of two contenders for an NBA reserve guard all-star spot, this round-handedly went to Kemba Walker. Kemba clearly loves playing Toronto as he scored 40 points in the teams’ prior meeting. He went off again tonight abusing Toronto in the pick and roll. Walker, who has never been an all-star and has been in the shadows of Isaiah Thomas, John Wall, Kyrie Irving and Kyle Lowry in the East, showed he belongs in that class vs. Toronto. In what seemed like a statement game from the opening tip Walker dropped 32 points on 11-of-16 shooting with eight assists. Walker dropped 16 points in the third quarter when that game was put out of reach. Walker outscored the Raptors himself in the third quarter. Similar to the ascension of Lowry, Walker has worked hard to improve his long range shot mechanics since entering the league. He certainly showed off the fruition of that work at the expense of Toronto.
Lowry Loses His Cool
Lowry was outplayed but he wasn’t dominated, scoring 24 on 7-of-18 shooting with three assists. He was fired up after Michael Kidd-Gilchrist hit him in the face inadvertently and no foul was called in the first half. Lowry went off to score the next seven Raptors points before getting a technical for continuing to argue about the non-call. Considering the fact the team was struggling the technical was misguided at best but Lowry was the only Raptors player who brought any semblance of intensity to the contest.
Three and Out
Charlotte used a massive third quarter outscoring Toronto 33-15. Toronto was down 25 entering the fourth and that was the end of the night for the Hornets’ starters. The Raptors came back from down 10 in Charlotte in November but this was different. At no time did they show signs of life. Toronto shot just 36 per cent from the floor at the half. After three quarters the field-goal percentage dipped all the way down to 20 per cent. The Raptors were outscored by 28 in the second half.
No Assistance
Toronto was terrible offensively shooting 23.3 per cent from three and 33.7 per cent from the floor. Toronto had just 10 assists in the game. Half of which came from two players, DeMar DeRozan and Lowry, who combined for five. No other Hornets opponent this year has had less than 17 assists.
Road and Health Woes
All of the Raptors’ bad losses have come recently on the road. Losing to rebuilding Philadelphia by any margin is a bad loss. On Dec. 28 they lost 121-11 to Golden State in a game were the final scoreline was flattering to the losers. On Jan. 3 the Spurs beat Toronto 110-82. Toronto has hit the February wall early and are running on fumes. To make matters worse for a team that struggles with interior defence, they are missing their best two interior defenders, Lucas Nogueira and Patrick Patterson due to injury.
MKG slows down DD
Kidd-Gilchrist was a plus-29 on the evening. DeRozan finished with a minus-29. DeRozan did finish with 23 points on 8-17, three rebounds and two assists but was a non factor in the game.
Wright Returns
Only positive in this game came beforehand when it was learned Delon Wright was going to be active for the first time this season. Although the added health is welcomed the Raptors don’t need another healthy point guard, which they have four. They need some healthy bodies to play the four position. Although eligible, Wright didn’t play, instead Fran VanVleet got four minutes of mop up duty.