Among the things that went wrong for the Raptors on Monday in Detroit, the offense is the headliner. Without Gradey Dick’s Jupiter-like off-ball gravity and three-point offense, Toronto scratched just 78.8 points/100 possessions out of their half court sets; numbers we haven’t seen since the peak (nadir?) of the Dennis Schroeder era. Offensive rebounds, and lots of ‘em, were the team’s only consistent avenue to buckets. Credit to the lunatic reserve crew and Scottie Barnes for the work they did to haul in 23 second chances, but an offense based on your propensity for launching bricks is rarely gonna be a winning one.
It almost was on Monday, though. And were it not for a couple disastrous and frankly inexcusable breakdowns on the end at which Toronto was mostly fine all night, I’m probably writing a sonnet about the work of Chris Boucher this morning. Instead, we’re looking at the two sleepy moments of transition D that cost Toronto its first road win of the season.
The first was a real two-way gut-punch. With the score 95-94 with just over two minutes to go, Scottie Barnes and Jakob Poeltl perfectly executed one of their devastating close-quarter pick and rolls. Barnes snaking, Poeltl Gortat-screening all manner of Pistons out of his way, creating a bunny that Barnes hits 9 times out of 10.
It’s heavy, and Detroit surges the other way.
Even with odd numbers, there’s a world in which the Raptors curtail the break and give Barnes and Poeltl enough time to get back into the play. But RJ Barrett somehow misses Ausar Thompson running coast-to-coast, right past him and to the rim, where he catches and scores before Barrett even know what’s happened.
Now, that one maybe ends in a bucket no matter what. Tobias Harris, the fifth Piston, joins the play before Barnes or Poeltl track back from their position deep under the Pistons’ hoop. The numbers say that’s probably a score to put Detroit up 96-95 regardless, though Barrett’s standing nap certainly expedited the process.
More baffling was the late-game Isaiah Stewart unimpeded jaunt to a game-tying jam that set the stage for Jaden Ivey’s walk-off winner on Detroit’s next trip. I’ve watched it like 40 times, and I’m still seething!
This sequence starts with one of Barrett’s handful of troubled interior attempts in the game, which we’ll spare him the indignity of covering in written from today. Things look OK to start. Toronto’s got the numbers edge. Barrett and Poeltl get back quickly. And yet...
It all goes haywire when both Jamison Battle and Davion Mitchell step up to stop ball — something Battle, who was otherwise very good in this game, has no business doing with a Pistons guard handling and Mitchell, the guard-stopper guy, there and ready. Barnes, tracking back kind of listlessly himself doesn’t have the time to cover for Battle’s erroneous step, and Beef Stew beats everyone to the cup, like a savvy traveler on an airport conveyor-belt leaving the Raptors hoofin’ it like schmucks in his dust.
This is Young Team Stuff in its purest form. We’ve seen it before from these Raptors and we’ll surely see it again. That they hang in most of their games, win or lose, is absolutely a good thing. If nothing else, these are incredibly valuable reps for a team that needs ‘em.
It’s also why they’re 2-7 in “clutch” games as defined by NBA.com (within 5 points with 5 minutes or less to play), sporting the 22nd-best NET Rating in such situations.
They’ll learn and be better for these experiences. But that only offers so much solace the more games get lost to these types of unforced errors.
—
Today on the podcast I went solo to break down the Toronto Raptors’ loss to Detroit, with thoughts on offensive rebounding, Scottie Barnes & more! Enjoy the show.
