Toronto Raptors: Nuggets loss reveals worrying trend on defense

The Toronto Raptors didn’t start their West Coast road trip in the best fashion, as they were dominated in the fourth quarter by MVP candidate Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets. While this Nuggets team is a playoff squad out West, Nick Nurse beat them earlier in the year, and they were playing this game without star guard Jamal Murray.

None of that mattered in Denver, as Mike Malone and this new-look offense beat the brakes off of Toronto. This game underscored why this season has been so challenging for the Raptors, specifically on the defensive side of the ball.

Considering his season averages, Jokic didn’t play very well against Toronto, as the Joker only managed 19 points, 11 rebounds, and just two assists. The same defense that Kevin Durant credited after it held him to just 13 points was able to limit Jokic in this contest.

Unfortunately, the rest of the Nuggets were able to pick up the slack. Six other Denver players were in double-figures, including Michael Porter Jr. (23), JaMychael Green (15), and Facundo Campazzo (12). The Raptors have proven they can stop stars, but they can’t seem to stop the secondary scorers from lighting them up.

The Toronto Raptors are not playing good defense.

The Raptors are allowing one of the league’s highest percentages of wide-open (six feet or more of separation) 3-point attempts this season, and this style of crashing down on opposing stars might have something to do with it. Toronto was also tied for second with regards to corner 3-pointers allowed. 

The Raptors have good perimeter defensive players, evidenced by OG Anunoby, but their quality on that side of the ball is being undercut by a scheme that has gotten Toronto into trouble this season. Nurse’s defensive schemes were a huge reason the Raptors were able to win the championship in 2019, but they aren’t serving him very well this year.

The fact the Nuggets were able to score like this without Murray should be very concerning.

This is part of the problem for the Toronto Raptors this year. The same players from last year’s team, Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka excluded, are running the same schemes on the defensive side of the ball, yet they are getting completely different results.

Keeping players like Jokic and Durant in check and forcing tertiary scorers to beat you isn’t a bad idea at all. In fact, it’s ideal. However, the way Nurse is going about implementing these ideas has been underwhelming, to say the least, and this could be the final nail in the coffin for Toronto’s playoff hopes.