10 things: Costly errors hurt Raptors in heartbreaking loss to Thunder

Here are 10 takeaways from the Toronto Raptors‘ 110-109 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

One — Even though it came down a fraction of a second, the Raptors actually lost this game in the third quarter. Their defence was shaky all night as the Thunder were consistently able to get downhill and cause problems, and it caught up to the Raptors when their offence dried up. The Raptors were up 11 points before going ice cold, hitting only one shot in the final eight minutes of the third quarter as the Thunder rattled off a 25-3 run to pull ahead. Credit the Raptors for showing some guts to come back and take the lead, but the game should have never come down to that in the first place. Nick Nurse and Fred VanVleet, the two undisputed leaders of this team, both called out the effort and focus of this team for letting the game slip away.

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Two — The final play was a heartbreaker. First off, the Raptors barely got it inbounds as VanVleet tossed to Pascal Siakam right on the precipice of a five-second count. Then when Siakam flipped it right back to VanVleet, it was clear as to what the Raptors had in mind. Siakam screened well to get Lu Dort off the ball, but VanVleet still couldn’t burrow his way past Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

He barely got a shot off in the lane, despite the fact that Gary Trent Jr. had popped open just to his right with plenty of time to shoot, and instead VanVleet flipped something up just to beat the clock. The shot was blocked by Darius Bazely, who was camping out in the lane, but that does leave Justin Champagnie free for the tip-in. The Raptors celebrate what looked to be their first game-winner of the year, except replays showed that the ball was released 0.1 seconds late. It wasn’t the greatest play, to begin with, but there was a missed read for an open shot and the second change was a split-second too late.

Three — This begs the question of who gets the last shot on this team. The Raptors have tried VanVleet in this loss, and OG Anunoby in the loss to Cleveland at home. VanVleet’s push in the fourth quarter was the main reason why the Raptors had a chance to steal it at the end, but he’s not fit for the specific job of creating the last shot for the simple fact that he struggles to get his shot up due to his size. Siakam’s history in the clutch last season is still fresh on everyone’s minds, but otherwise he would be a good candidate as someone who can get the shot off. Even Gary Trent Jr. can create some separation, especially if the intent of the play was only to isolate at the top of the floor. It would be a different story if VanVleet were asked to catch-and-shoot on a kickout, but that would require the Raptors to run something more elaborate than clearing out.

Four — There were also costly mistakes on the go-ahead shot for the Thunder. For one, Scottie Barnes was too eager to run Gilgeous-Alexander off the line, because him jumping out allowed Gilgeous-Alander to drive right into the heart of the defence without even having to make a move. Then when the defence converged, Siakam was a tad too eager in jumping at the fake, although it wasn’t the worst move considering that Barnes was recovering on the play to cover.

Where the mistake came was when Gilgeous-Alexander pivoted to buy himself a half second to assess his options, Champagnie also converged on the play, leaving Mike Muscala wide open at the top. All in all, the Raptors needed to be smarter there, since they were up two at the time. Sending three to the ball and leaving shooters open made no sense in that scenario.

Five — These are part of the growing pains when you’re developing young players. Barnes is getting a crash course in NBA defences as Nick Nurse puts him on the toughest players in the game, and it’s going to lead to mistakes. Barnes pressed too close to Gilgeous-Alexander all game, and it resulted in a slew of blow-bys. Now that wouldn’t be as costly if the Raptors had a reliable rim protector, but they didn’t even have a single healthy centre since both Khem Birch (knee) and Precious Achiuwa (shoulder) were out, which meant that the Raptors were constantly having to scramble to cover.

The main issue all night defensively was how easily Gilgeous-Alexander was able to get downhill and cause problems, either with his nine assists which were largely on kick out threes, or him going to the foul line for 12 makes which single-handedly exceeded the Raptors’ total as a team. Barnes is going to have to learn the tricky balance between pressuring the ball while leaving half a step to recover against quicker players. It’s arguably the hardest aspect of Nurse’s defence, and he’s hardly the only one at fault, but until they get it, there will be more costly lapses.

Six — The Raptors’ bench is a letdown in just about every loss. Injuries thrust a few third-stringers into the spotlight but there’s no excuse for empty performances. The second unit combined for a grand total of 14 points in 63 minutes of play, and they weren’t doing much on defence to make up for it. It’s not as if the Raptors are asking any of them to take over, but they can’t be no-shows. Dalano Banton played 11 minutes and nobody remembers a single thing he did out there. Isaac Bonga flubbed layups and was late to rotate. Yuta Watanabe was 1-for-4 from three and missed a wide open look while the Thunder made their run. Malachi Flynn is so unreliable that Nurse didn’t even give him a single wink. Champagnie ended up playing the entire fourth quarter because in Nurse’s blunt estimation, the other bench guys were “soft and unenergetic.” Let’s see if they respond to that call-out.

Seven — Siakam was great in the first half but hardly involved later on. He made seven of his first eight shots, showing great patience in getting to his spots, before rising up and shooting over the top of his defender. Siakam’s performances of late are reminiscent of 2019 when he would consistently get good looks in single coverage, as this showing was similar to his outing against Washington.

The trouble is that teams generally adjust at halftime, and the Thunder started sending double teams towards him in the second half which led to him giving up the ball and becoming less involved as a whole. He didn’t attempt a shot until six minutes into the third quarter, and he was hardly involved in the comeback outside of flying in for a putback. It feels as if the Raptors have plays for Siakam, but don’t necessarily play through him.

Eight — Nurse needs to scrap the Siakam and bench lineups. It continues to be a drag on the rhythm of the game since it’s basically asking Siakam to go 1-on-5. Options are understandably limited at the moment, but every single play is Siakam trying to attack at the top of the floor and seeing five defenders between him and the rim. The only shooter with Siakam on these lineups is Svi Mykhailiuk, who is stuck in a shooting funk and he keeps missing the few kick out passes that come his way at the top of the floor. It’s even gotten to the point where he fumbled a 4-on-1 fast break.

Having Barnes out there with Siakam isn’t really helping since Barnes isn’t a floor spacer, and if it’s not Siakam attacking, it would just be Barnes in the same spot having to break down the entire defence. The Raptors have to have at least have two shooters on the floor at all times.

Nine — This was an impressive showing from Trent Jr. He had shot just 5-of-24 from the field in his previous two games since missing time due to a calf bruise, but he regained his rhythm on offence Wednesday with 24 points on 10-of-17 shooting. Trent Jr. is a master at the shot fake before side-stepping into more space to release, and is best when he plays on the catch either for the shot or curling downhill with some momentum. His in-between game has stood out the most, as he’s shown the ability to hit from midrange while also showing a variety of off-beat finishes at the basket including runners, push-shots, and teardrops to evade the shot-blocker. His aggression on offence is badly needed on most nights.

Ten — You can see how much it means to Gilgeous-Alexander and Dort to play in Canada. They only get one chance every year being in the Western Conference, and this is twice in a row where Gilegous-Alexander in particular has made the game-winning play at Scotiabank Arena, which he also did in 2019 to beat a much better Raptors side. It’s just a different feeling with friends and family in attendance and clearly there is a passion for playing for the national team as well.

This is a subject for way down the line, as both guards are under contract for the foreseeable future, but the Raptors need to make themselves open to the opportunity to pitch them when the time comes. This might be the only advantage the Raptors have in player acquisitions. It would be a perfect fit.

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