Painful Tyrese Haliburton stat shows problem with Raptors offense

Nick Nurse and the Toronto Raptors knew they were going to be in for a dogfight against the Indiana Pacers with Pascal Siakam, Fred VanVleet, and Precious Achiuwa all inactive. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Toronto lacked the offensive pop and defensive effort to keep pace with Indiana on the second night of a back-to-back.

Had it not been for another solid game from Chris Boucher and the reemergence of bench studs Thad Young and Malachi Flynn, the Raptors would have been run out of the gym by the Pacers. Even before that horrible fourth quarter, drawing fouls seemed to be the best offensive strategy the Raptors had.

Scottie Barnes and the struggling Gary Trent Jr. combining for just five made shots on 29 attempts is vomit-inducing, but the poor showing in Indiana may not be all their fault. The lack of ball movement this team has shown recently has been nothing short of startling.

Even though Tyrese Haliburton was held to just eight points on the night, he did manage to dish out 15 assists. As a team, Toronto managed just 14, with Barnes alone counting for five of them. Young and O.G. Anunoby were the only other Raptors to have more than one assist. In the modern NBA, this is unacceptable.

Nick Nurse and the Toronto Raptors are struggling offensively.

Nurse’s offense, which can lack structure at times, is both a blessing and a curse for gifted offensive players. While it gives players a great deal of freedom and trust, it also can get very stale. The Raptors rank near the bottom of the league in isolation percentage, yet the ball movement is often lacking.

Toronto ranks 25th in assists per game this year. Of the five teams below them, three (Magic, Pistons, Rockets) are leading the charge for Victor Wembanyama. The other two are a Mavericks team leaning on MVP-level performances from Luka Doncic and a Clippers squad playing without Kawhi Leonard.

Not having VanVleet or Siakam is going to leave a huge dent in these numbers, as they can both set their teammates up and finish open looks, but 14 in an entire game against a poor defense is nothing short of pitiful. Half the possessions in this game looked like Toronto spun a wheel that picked was going to shoot beforehand.

The Raptors’ offense is clearly limited due to the lack of great shooters and bucket-getters who can generate their own shot, but Saturday night may have been a new low. Toronto needs to figure out what went wrong fast, as two winnable games have been completely dropped.