Toronto Raptors: Three takeaways from beatdown at hands of Orlando Magic

After a nice start, the Toronto Raptors were absolutely dismantled by the Orlando Magic. Here are my three big takeaways.

Things looked good early on. The Toronto Raptors jumped out to an early advantage against the Orlando Magic, leading for essentially all of the first 22 minutes of the game. After that, things fell apart. Orlando took the lead with just under four minutes remaining in the second quarter, and never gave it back.

The margin grew to 31 at one point in the third quarter.  From 6:00 remaining in the second until the end of the third quarter, Orlando outscored Toronto 56-21. That is less than ideal.

So what did we learn from the Magic beatdown? Here are my three big takeaways.

No longer in first

All season, when the Raptors lost a tough game or a game they should have won, you could tell yourself, “At least we’re still the best team in the NBA.” That is no longer the case as now the Milwaukee Bucks have surpassed the Raptors for the NBA’s best winning percentage.

You might remember Milwaukee as the team who has already beat Toronto handily twice this season or Milwaukee as the team with the only player who can go toe-to-toe with Kawhi Leonard.

Toronto is 5-6 over their last 11 games. It’s hard to remain in first when you’re not playing under .500 for nearly a month. Despite what happened last year, homecourt advantage is important. If Toronto wants to remain in the conversation, they better start putting together some wins.

Miles away from contributing

C.J. Miles is shooting 30.2-percent on the season. That’s terrible. Let’s look at a couple of things that are greater than 30-percent.

• Michael Kidd-Gilchrist‘s three-point percentage
• Kawhi Leonard‘s and Jonas Valanciunas‘ FTA Rate (They have a better chance of being fouled per field goal attempt than Miles has of making a shot)
• Jose Altuve’s career batting percentage
• The chances Miles is dealt before season’s end (I’ll grant you this one is a little harder to prove).

He’s shooting only 27-percent from three, and now we have gotten to the point where it is fair to wonder if he will be pulled from the rotation completely. Miles already received a DNP-Coach’s Decision against Miami on Wednesday. It’s hard to imagine Nurse was encouraged after his 1-9 performance against Orlando.

C.J. Miles has been a great shooter and a good player throughout his career. It’s not as easy as it sounds to bench him, but nearly halfway through the season, you need to see some type of production.

It’s a make or miss league

There are 4-5 things Toronto mishandled over the course of this game. They consistently overhelped, no-one was able to handle Nikola Vucevic, and D.J. Augustin sliced through the defense at will.

However, the biggest factor in Toronto’s performance was their inability to hit shots. We can break down every aspect of this game, mistakes Toronto made in the pick-and-roll, or what matchups hurt the Raptors the most. But at the end of the day, the Raptors generated some open looks, they just didn’t hit shots.

Make sure to check out our takeaways after every game here at RaptorsRapture.com.