The Toronto Raptors fall to the Los Angeles Clippers 126-120.
The Raptors put up a hard fought battle despite being shorthanded. Toronto was missing two starters in this one as Jakob Poeltl remains out indefinitely with a left ankle sprain and Pascal Siakam sat out with back spasms.
Siakam had a hard fall in the game against the Los Angeles Lakers so the Raptors didn’t want to take any chances.
Getting the start for the Raptors was Dennis Schroder in place of Siakam and Thad Young once again filled in for Poeltl.
Schroder was solid in his minutes as a starter scoring 22 points on 8-13 shooting.
The Raptors newest additions were great as well and they helped keep the Raptors in the game until the end.
Immanuel Quickley had 25 points, 6 assists and 4 rebounds. Meanwhile, RJ Barrett scored 24 points on 10-16 shooting. He added 5 rebounds and 4 assists.
Scottie Barnes struggled to find his offensive rhythm in this game. With Siakam out, this was Barnes’ chance to show up in a big way. However, the third year player looked gassed putting up 12 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists. He was 1-5 from three.
Gary Trent Jr. chipped in with 12 from off the bench and Jontay Porter shined in his minutes. At one point he scored 9 points in 8 minutes. Overall, the big man finished with 9 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists in 18 minutes of action.
The Clippers stars were too much to handle. Kawhi Leonard who recently inked an extension with the Clippers scored 29 points against his former team and Paul George added 29 points as well. He was clutch from three hitting 5 three-pointers.
Former Raptor Norman Powell poured in 13 points from off the bench.
The Clippers hit 3 more three-pointers than the Raptors and turnovers really hurt Toronto. The Raptors finished with 15 turnovers and the Clippers only had 7.
Next on tap
After dropping back-to-back games, the Raptors are now 2-3 on their west coast trip with one more game remaining on Jan. 12 against the Utah Jazz.
This won’t be an easy game for the Raptors as the Jazz are suddenly hot, winning 8 of their last 10 games.
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