The Toronto Raptors laid an egg against the San Antonio Spurs at Scotiabank Arena.
The Raptors came out flat, never led once and trailed by as many as 31 on route to an embarrassing 112-99 loss against a team that came into the game with 10 wins.
Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic was upset an expressed his displeasure with the team’s performance via The Toronto Star:
“That was lack of effort. That was lack of intensity. That was lack of focus. All of that from the start of the game.”
Rajakovic added, “You can have an off night with your shooting, but your effort and your defense, rebounding, playing with pride has to be there every night.”
The Raptors could not get anything going in this game and played sloppy throughout. They committed 19 turnovers and allowed the Spurs to score 32 points off them. Toronto also allowed 70 points in the paint.
Spurs rookie Victor Wembanyama put on a clinic. He recorded 27 points, 14 rebounds and 10 blocks in the win.
Raptors All-Star Scottie Barnes had an off night. He put up only 7 points on 3 of 15 shooting.
“That was not the standard that we expect,” Rajakovic said following Barnes’ performance via TSN’s Josh Lewenberg.
To make matters worse, Barnes left the Raptors bench early with a few seconds left on the game clock:
Game isn’t even over and Scottie’s outta here! #WeTheNorth pic.twitter.com/EIs10FvKiW
— Doc Naismith ℠ (@DocNaismith) February 13, 2024
It will be interesting to see if Toronto decides to discipline Barnes for his actions. The Raptors benched former Raptor Pascal Siakam 1 game back in the 2019-20 bubble season when he left the bench early after fouling out.
It has been a tough season for the Raptors. They have piled up some very bad loses and this loss to the Spurs might have been their worst one.
Next up for Raptors
The Raptors have one more game left before they head into the All-Star break. They will host Siakam and the Indiana Pacers on Feb. 14.
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