Nick Nurse and the Toronto Raptors had an opportunity to get their season back on track in a nationally televised game against the injury-depleted Milwaukee Bucks. Instead of jumping at that opportunity, the Raptors embarrassed themselves in one of the most pathetic performances anyone will ever see.
The Raptors missed their first 15 shots and made just two of their 23 first-quarter attempts. With just 12 points in the quarter, eight of which came from the free-throw line, the Raptors didn’t even look like a team that is capable of operating an NBA offense.
Toronto was able to hang with the Bucks due to Milwaukee’s own struggles against their unique defense, but that should not excuse the absolutely pitiful display that the Raptors have shown in this contest. With the basketball world watching, the Raptors looked like failures.
Fans should be thankful that Tony Brothers had such a quick whistle early in this game, as getting to the free-throw line was the only way that Toronto could generate any sort of offense. When Siakam scored their first points all night long (a free throw), fans treated them like nine-year-olds at the YMCA who finally hit their first shot of the year.
Embarrassing, plain and simple.
Raptors score! pic.twitter.com/AE7R8bVg74
— John Schuhmann (@johnschuhmann) January 5, 2023
The Toronto Raptors played unwatchable basketball against the Bucks
While it was nice to see the Raptors force eight first-quarter turnovers, none of that meant anything when they were unable to get points out of those turnovers. A trade needs to be made as soon as possible, as they don’t have any consistent shooters outside of Gary Trent Jr.
The Bucks and Raptors are currently playing a low-scoring football game. pic.twitter.com/KU0ByfHZHn
— Josh Gondelman (@joshgondelman) January 5, 2023
The Raptors’ struggles continued into the second quarter, as they made just three of their first 35 shots from the field. In the same league where teams score 150 points on occasion, Toronto needs to pull teeth to get to 90 points on some nights. It’s unacceptable.
Show this Bucks-Raptors game to everyone who complained about the outrageously high scores the last few weeks
— Lior (@LiorKozai) January 5, 2023
The teams combined to go 6-40 from the field to start the game, including a stretch in which both teams combined to miss 22 shots in a row. Enthusiasts of defensive basketball and the principles of such may have had a blast watching this game, but even the most casual Raptors fan was either bored to tears or filled with rage.
10 minutes into Bucks-Raptors, we have a combined 21 points on 6-of-40 shooting 😅 pic.twitter.com/RezC494ges
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) January 5, 2023
The Raptors’ issues stem from their lack of depth and poor perimeter shooting, even when Otto Porter Jr. is the only significant injury on the team. If this game doesn’t motivate Masai Ujiri to make a trade for a shooter relatively soon, I don’t think anything will.