The Toronto Raptors went into the All-Star break red hot, beating the Clippers, Spurs and Wizards. After the All-Star break they are 1-3, only beating the Atlanta Hawks. Over the last 3 games the Toronto Raptors have faced the Pelicans, Mavericks, and Rockets, and have lost in bad fashion.
Their offense just hasn’t been producing only scoring 98.3 points per 100 possessions which is good for 24th in the NBA. You are second in the Eastern Conference, you should not be in the bottom section of any NBA category. Nonetheless, Kyle Lowry believes he is the issue.
According to Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun:
Asked to describe his game at the moment, Lowry had a quick response: “Me? I’m trash,” Lowry told reporters. “I’m trying to figure it out right now, to be honest with you. I don’t know (how to fix it), that’s why I’m in here, working hard and trying to figure out what to do to get myself back on track.”
DeRozan did not duck away from that assessment of the status of his own game.
“Right next to the trash can (that Lowry’s) is. Both trash,” DeRozan told the Sun, matter-of-factly as he signed merchandise following his media scrum.
The Dynamic Duo of Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan haven’t been playing well, both shooting below their averages in the past 5 games and turning the ball over way more then they usually do. Two of the games against the New Orleans Pelicans and Dallas Mavericks, the Toronto Raptors held 4th quarter leads but lost by double digits.
One thing I have noticed with the Toronto Raptors is they don’t have that killer mentality in the NBA. When they are up 10-12 on a team, they don’t try to push the lead higher, instead they let teams sit around that 10-12 point deficit mark and then attack. The Raptors are facing the Golden State Warriors which will end off a ridiculous 8 game stretch for them (Clippers, Spurs, Wizards, Rockets, Pelicans, Mavericks, and Warriors). If they were to win against the 1st place Warriors then they will be 4-4 in that 8 game stretch, which is not ideal but it’s something to work with.
As a Raptors fan myself, I can see 2 main reasons as to why the Raptors are having their recent struggles: inconsistency on defense, composure. As a young team, they lack the composure more veteran teams have when dealing with deficits and momentum swings. The Raptors have lost 2 back-to-back games with 4th quarter leads.
