The Toronto Raptors got embarrassed by the Atlanta Hawks 136-107.
Awful defense continues
Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic put his team through an extended practice on Saturday after the team gave up a franchise-record 155 points to the Memphis Grizzlies. The Raptors went 80 minutes longer than scheduled and Rajakovic met with his entire coaching staff afterwards, per TSN’s Josh Lewenberg. However, nothing seemed to have registered with the team as they put up another abysmal defensive performance this time against the Hawks. The Raptors allowed the Hawks to shoot 48.4 percent from the field and 40.0 percent from deep on its way to a 135-point night. The Raptors have now given up the most points in a three game span in franchise history (430). Their lack of focus and effort on defense has been very concerning.
Turnovers galore
The Raptors finished with this game with 31 turnovers, one shy of the franchise record. The Raptors had trouble securing the ball right from the jump, picking up 10 turnovers in the first quarter. The Hawks scored 30 points off the Raptors’ turnovers. “We finished the game with 31 turnovers, you’re not giving yourself a chance. We gotta take it much more serious than this…I gotta do a better job of keeping guys accountable, Rajakovic said postgame via Toronto Star. The Raptors have done a poor job of limiting turnovers all season, averaging 15.6 per game which is 26th in the NBA. If Toronto can’t protect the ball, they will continue to find themselves in big holes.
Bruce Brown returns
The one bright spot for the Raptors in this game was they saw four rotation players return in Jakob Poeltl, Ja’Kobe Walter, Jamal Shead and Bruce Brown who made his long awaited season debut after missing the team’s first 31 games recovering from knee surgery. Brown looked good in this one scoring 12 points on 6-for-12 shooting in 19 minutes from off the bench. Brown has been a name that has popped up a ton in the rumor mill and it seems likely that the Raptors will try and trade him before the Feb. 6 trade deadline. Therefore, it’s nice to see him healthy and playing well which will help restore his trade value.
Next on tap
It’s only going to get tougher for a Raptors teams that has now lost 10 games in a row. They will travel to Boston to take on the Celtics on Dec. 31.
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