Thursday night’s loss was a bad one. Those have been pretty rare for the Raptors this season, but against the Nets, it was a regular egg-laying by Toronto down the stretch. Scottie Barnes went too heavy on the ISO-ball, there was no answer for Cam Johnson, and the Raptors dropped a very winnable game to one of the few teams in basketball they can claim to be more talented than — even with three of their four best players out of the lineup.
Now you may be sitting there thinking: “Sean, finally the bit must end. You can’t possible sugarcoat a 4th-quarter collapse to Ben Simmons’ team.”
But friends, we’re not even halfway through what’s shaping up to be a 50 to 60 loss season. I’ve barely dipped a toe into my reservoir of toxic positivity.
It’s hard not to feel good about last night’s starting lineup — the youngest in Raptors franchise history — kind of demolishing the Nets in their 13 minutes of action together, including a 20-9 extended run to open the third quarter that looked, for a time, like it had staked the Raptors to a lead for good.
Scottie Barnes, Ja’Kobe Walter, Gradey Dick, Ochai Agbaji and Jonathan Mogbo provided some damn good TV as they outscored the Nets by nine in their shared floor time with their mix of shooting and jump-out-the-gym athleticism. I’ve bemoaned the Raptors’ aversion to highlight plays so far this year. That five man crew shut me up real good, and refreshingly turned Thursday’s game into their own curated segment of Court Cuts.
Against just about any other non-Wizards or Jazz opponent in the league, the starters foreshadowing all kinds of future fun and winning their minutes in a losing effort would have checked every box in the 2024-25 Raptors viewing rubric.
I get it. Losing to the Nets, who just traded their point guard io expedite their standings plunge, burns a bit — especially since it was a variation of the starting lineup (with Jamal Shead in for Ja’Kobe Walter) that forked over the lead late. Most games, win or lose, have felt like progress for this young and constantly shorthanded team. This one, not so much.
Take a wider view of this season, and one ugly loss in late December doesn’t seem so bad. The Raptors have 21 of them on the ledger; for the latest to feel like an abnormality among the rest is frankly remarkable. They’re 7-21 in the standings, but something like 22-6 passing the “was the game fun” test. You’ll take that, and the boosted lotto odds that come from it. This is a team designed to take losses this year. If you’re in the for the long haul, you’d better brace for some lumps.
But as that bouncy, all 24-and-under desperation starting unit showed in more than a few flashes last night, the payoff isn’t too far out.
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Once again I’m on the injured list with a destroyed voice, so it’s another day without a show. Hope to be on the mend by Monday. Have a wonderful weekend!
