TORONTO — Call it symbolic. Call it meme-worthy. Call it what it is: another bonehead play by a team that has a penchant for racking them up in bunches.
Early in the fourth quarter of what was already well on its way to being a blowout loss at home, the Raptors franchise player, Scottie Barnes, grabbed a defensive rebound, lost his balance briefly, and with a live dribble and not a defender near him, promptly sent an outlet pass off the back of the head of centre Jakob Poeltl, who quite rightly had no idea the ball was coming anywhere near him.
It was Toronto's 27th and weirdest of their 31 turnovers for the game, a season-high and the second most in franchise history. It was, mercifully, the last of Barnes' eight giveaways for the night, which was a career-high for the 23-year-old.
But it wasn’t even the Raptors' most embarrassing moment in the final quarter of a 136-107 loss to the visiting Atlanta Hawks, who were playing on the road in the second half of a back-to-back, against a Raptors team that was on two days rest at home.
No, their most embarrassing moment would be when after Poeltl got blocked at the rim a few plays later, the Hawks enjoyed a 3-on-1 fastbreak. Atlanta somehow didn’t manage a shot at the rim but still had a numbers advantage and plenty of time to work with it before Trae Young was able to relocate to the corner and drain a wide-open triple that put Atlanta up by 28 points with 8:44 to play.
By any standard, it was an unacceptable effort. But not an isolated one as the Raptors season has hit bottom, or something.
“Right now as a team we hit the wall,” said Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic following the loss. “It's very simple. We hit a wall. We look tired. We look drained. Guys are not in a rhythm. That's the reality that we're in right now. We've got to find a way how to get out of it. The only one way to get out of it, it's always the same answer. It's back to work and staying together and watching the film and going through practice and addressing the right things and getting better.”
It's all true, but as Barnes would point out it’s not an excuse. Not for a team that has now given up 430 total points — or an astounding 143.3 points per game in the last three starts of what is now a 10-game losing streak. If that sounds like a lot, it is. The Washington Wizards are the NBA’s worst defensive team, for example, and are allowing 122.3 points per game. According to Sportsnet producer Chris Black, 430 points is the most a team has allowed in a three-game stretch since the Denver Nuggets coughed up 440 points in a three-game stretch in December of 1990.
“I just feel like our effort has got to be better. It's on us. No matter if we're tired, we've got to push through that (expletive)” said Barnes, who had a team-high 19 points, eight rebounds and five assists to go along with his miscues. “So there's no excuses there. We've just got to be better defensively, guard the ball better, help each other more, rebound, do those things — just get back to winning. This isn't fun. Losing games by 30, this isn't who we are. And we can't just keep allowing this to happen. At some point we got to stand up and we've got to put up a fight, starting with me … we have meetings and we talk. All the talking, it doesn't mean nothing if we don't go out there and do it.”
The strain was bound to show sooner or later.
If winning is the magic elixir that makes everything better in competitive sports, what does that make losing? A toxin of some sort? At the very least a contaminant that can erode a team’s competitive spirit.
It’s the risk that trying to rebuild through the draft – aka tanking – carries with it. A slew of close losses meant the Raptors haven’t really had to deal with that reality too much this season, but as the blowouts mount, it’s hard to ignore.
Toronto has had plenty of time to think about it lately. The Raptors' 10-game skid is the longest of their season and the longest active losing streak in the NBA. Their 25 losses are also the second-most league-wide.
The further back you go, the worse it gets. Toronto finished last season in a 2-19 freefall, meaning that for the last 53 games the Raptors are 9-44. Extrapolated over 82 games, that’s a 14-win pace — tied for the ninth-worst record in NBA history over a full season.
Sunday night was the Raptors' 82nd game of 2024, a calendar year in which the Raptors have gone 20-62. Adding to their win total before they ring in 2025 will be tough as the Raptors travel to Boston to take on the defending NBA champions on a New Year’s Eve matinee. Given Toronto is an NBA worst 1-14 away from home, you’d have to think the Celtics will be the betting favourites.
The Raptors have lost seven straight at home and at 7-25 have the worst record through 32 games of any Raptors team save the 1997-98 edition that finished the year 16-66.
Against Atlanta, Toronto fell behind by 35-25 in the first quarter in part because they had five turnovers before they made their first field goal and finished the opening 12 minutes with as many turnovers (10) as made field goals.
“I think the way we opened up the game was very, very disappointing with our turnovers,” said Rajakovic. “… Turnovers put us in a really, really tough bind. We had seven turnovers in the first three minutes of the game. We had nine turnovers at the seven-minute mark. Finished the game with 31 turnovers, you're not giving yourself a chance. We've got to take it much more seriously than this. This has been an ongoing thing with our turnovers this year. We've got to do a much better job of addressing it. I've gotta do a better job of keeping guys accountable to the standard.”
Toronto trailed 64-58 at the half only after a fadeaway three-pointer at the horn by Chris Boucher, but that could only mean so much as the Raptors are now 0-18 when they trail at half, after all. The Hawks made sure that streak continued as they out-scored the Raptors 40-24 in the third while converting on 60 per cent of their shot attempts. Toronto went just seven-of-24 on their own looks while adding eight more giveaways.
There was no defence for it.
Sure there have been plenty of excuses to grab onto as the Raptors have pinballed their way through the current season. The difficulty of their schedule is certainly a valid one — the Raptors have played the seventh most difficult slate through the first three months of the season. Their injury issues have been real also: Sunday night marked the first game Toronto had each of Jakob Poeltl (who returned after missing four games with a groin strain), Gradey Dick, RJ Barrett and Scottie Barnes in the same game together since Dec. 9th against the New York Knicks. There is still no return date for Immanuel Quickley (elbow) who has missed all but three games this season with various ailments.
The Raptors did get Bruce Brown Jr. back on Sunday, and the veteran wing brought considerable energy. He even enjoyed a big dunk on his way to 12 points in 19 minutes in his first game back following off-season knee surgery.
“I felt like myself again,” Brown said. But he can’t be the exception.
On Boxing Day in Memphis, Rajakovic showed that the losing was getting to him as he flew across the floor and lost his mind on the officials after a series of calls went against his club. The Raptors were on their way to giving up a franchise-record 155 points to the Grizzlies — this two nights after the Knicks put 139 on them.
Rajakovic acknowledged later that it wasn’t just a few tough calls that had finally pushed him into his first NBA ejection but a general malaise he’d felt had settled in with his team as the losses mounted.
“I felt that my team needs to wake up,” he said following practice Saturday. “And I wanted to send the message that we need to fight all the way to the last minute.”
Rajakovic followed up by holding two long practices the days leading up to Sunday, opportunities that have been few and far between with the Raptors' travel schedule, injuries, illnesses and the holidays
What did the coach want to see against Atlanta?
“I want to see reaction, I want to see a lot of fight,” said Rajakovic. “I want to see the fire to go out there and compete.”
He didn’t see all that much of it, and it’s been a pattern with some bad losses to show for it.
COMMENTS
When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.