Inexperienced Raptors flash brilliance but learn tough lessons vs. Nuggets

DENVER — One thing you can say about the various members of the Toronto Raptors who are getting experiences and opportunities they otherwise wouldn’t on a team that was healthy, more established or burdened with the expectation of winning: Individually and collectively, they’re taking full advantage.

Different players doing different things, often with unexpectedly encouraging results.

It works both ways though. Experience is the best teacher, but a lot of the lessons end up coming from the loss column.

The Raptors were the better team for long stretches of their match-up with the Denver Nuggets at Ball Arena Monday. Gradey Dick (26 points, five assists, four steals, two blocks) was a two-way force. You could argue Jakob Poeltl (23 points, nine rebounds, three assists and three steals) was at the very least holding his own against Nuggets star Nikola Jokic, who nevertheless advanced his case for a fourth MVP award with 28 points, 14 rebounds and 14 assists, though he’ll likely be thinking about his seven turnovers.

Davion Mitchell, getting a long run as the Raptors' starting point guard with Immanuel Quickley missing time with a bruised pelvis, has looked convincing too, as he contributed 13 points and eight assists without a turnover. And RJ Barrett has filled in admirably as the Raptors ‘go-to’ shot creator down the stretch of close games. He struggled shooting Monday, connecting on just six of his 22 attempts, but he had nine assists and is averaging nearly that many over his last four starts. Barrett had a step-back three at the buzzer that rattled in before spilling out that would have won the game for the Raptors.

All that opportunity can come with a cost, and in the Raptors' case, it was a streak of turnovers and fouls in the final half of the fourth quarter that cost Toronto in what ended up being a 121-119 loss to Denver that dropped the Raptors to 2-6 on the season and 0-1 to start their five-game western road trip.

Toronto led by 11 with 5:45 to play and came up short as they made four live ball turnovers in the final four minutes — one by Barrett and three by Dick. That and a 38-18 free throw disparity sunk them.

“In the fourth quarter, I thought that we got a little bit rattled and that we did not handle that pressure (the way) you need to do on the road to win a game like this,” said Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic. “I thought that overall we did a lot of good stuff — 37 assists — I thought that for a big part of it, we did a decent job with taking care of the ball, especially first half. After that, at the end, we did not do a great job against their physical defence.”

It was the second close loss to Denver — who were playing without Canada’s Jamal Murray (concussion protocol) and lost starting power forward Aaron Gordon early in the game — in the space of a week. The Raptors blew a late lead and lost in overtime to the Nuggets (4-3) in Toronto seven days ago.

The Raptors in general have been competitive this season, even while missing Scottie Barnes who will likely be out for another three weeks after fracturing his orbital bone in the first Denver game, and Immanuel Quickley, who missed his seventh straight game with a bruised pelvis, while also missing projected regulars Bruce Brown (knee) and Kelly Olynyk (back).

But the wins have been missing in part because they have been mistake-prone at key moments of close games as different players take on more responsibility.

“I mean, we’re in every game,” said Poeltl, the Raptors' most experienced starter. “Every game has things we can learn from, and tonight’s game, for example, it was executing down the stretch. How to figure out a good play for us to run, how to punish a defence, how to adjust to their adjustments on the fly… that’s where you can see where we don’t have that experience yet or enough. We’ve been pretty good in flashes, but at the same time we had a bunch of turnovers down the line, so yeah, improving on that would be great.”

Coming in, the Raptors definitely had Denver’s attention. Prior to the game, Denver head coach Michael Malone had a handy three-point explanation for why his Nuggets team had barely managed to squeeze out a win the week prior and presumably what they were hoping to do to remedy things Monday night.

The Raptors had a decided edge in points in the paint and fast break points in the two teams’ previous meeting — which was likely related — and the Raptors' energy when it comes to generating second-chance points. Toronto came into the game ranked first in fast break points scored, first in points-in-the-paint and second in the NBA in second-chance points.

The first quarter likely didn’t please Malone then. The Raptors helped the Nuggets commit eight first-quarter turnovers and, predictably, Toronto was off and running with an 8-7 edge in fast break points, an 8-4 edge in second-chance points and a 26-18 advantage in points in the paint.

The Raptors trailed by seven in the early going but pulled back into the game with a 9-2 run that featured a number of themes that were part of an impressive first half of basketball by the Raptors. Poeltl was able to get easy buckets by rolling to the rim or cutting into the paint where his teammates found him consistently. Dick ran into an open three at the top of the circle, and Ochai Agbaji (14 points, four assists, two steals) reached around Jokic to steal an entry pass and took it the other way for a basket that gave Toronto the lead. They finished the quarter leading 37-34.

The early success seemed to make the Raptors that much more confident in a season where they are playing with house money, the early spate of injuries and the expectations of a rebuild creating a loose environment where players can find their feet without the burden of expectations.

No one seems to be benefitting more than Dick, who is playing well beyond anyone’s expectations in his second season. The Raptors led 64-59 at half and Dick was arguably the most impactful player on either team. In addition to his 16 points — offence he was generating while matching up with Christian Braun, the Nuggets' primary perimeter defender — Dick added three assists, four steals and a blocked shot.

“I think it’s just being locked in and ultimately having the energy and the focus that I need where I’m not taking any plays off,” said Dick in reference to his improved defensive playmaking that’s shown up recently. “… I’m getting better at it, but at the same time it’s being locked in.”

He showed himself capable of the simplest play — a quick touch pass to the corner after a penetrating Jamal Shead had hit Dick above the arc generated rookie Ja’Kobe Walter’s first NBA three — and the spectacular, such as when he raced the floor after his own miss and rose high to swat fastbreak lay-up attempt by Peyton Watson into the fifth row.

The Raptors led by 13 midway through the third quarter, bumping up their biggest lead after Jamison Battle drove the lane and dished to a rolling Poeltl who found a wide-open Agbaji for three. No one had that trio combining to make important plays in the important part of games when training camp opened, but that’s the beauty of the Raptors' situation, where opportunities are plentiful for players to make a name for themselves. The Nuggets pushed back and had cut the Raptors lead to 93-88 to start the fourth.

But the ultimate lesson is winning, and it’s the hardest one. After Poeltl fouled out the Raptors' offence seemed to lose a fulcrum on either end, and the mistakes began to mount. Toronto’s young talent, playing in unfamiliar situations, looked every inch the part until it mattered most.