Toronto’s 19-point loss to the Denver Nuggets didn’t look like it would be a blowout early on. The Raptors came out strong, scoring 35 points in the first quarter and 32 in the second. They led by three points going into halftime. Then, they lost the third quarter 15-41 and fell so far behind that they couldn’t recover. It was a truly horrible quarter. The Raptors shot 5-of-23 from the field and turned the ball over seven times. The Nuggets, meanwhile, took care of the ball and scored efficiently at a 15-of-21 clip.
“We talked about opening games better,” Darko Rajakovic said in the postgame media availability. “We had much better energy in that first quarter. We did not match that in the third quarter. We got to find a way to sustain that over the course of the whole game.”
Starting games strong is important, but it does little good if you ruin a good first quarter with an abysmal second-half start. The 15-41 third quarter against Denver was the Raptors’ worst of the season, but it was not the first time the team let go of the rope in the third quarter and paid for it with a loss. It’s one of the many things the Raptors need to clean up.
The Raptors have struggled in the third quarter
The Raptors currently rank 26th in third-quarter points per game with 25.8. Only the Miami Heat, Sacramento Kings, Charlotte Hornets, and Orlando Magic average fewer points in the third quarter. Toronto is also one of the most inefficient teams in the third quarter, shooting just 40.3% from the field.
They lost the third quarter in three of their four losses—the only win came in a 129-99 loss to the Magic, another bad third-quarter team, when they outscored Orlando 33-31. Even in their wins, the third quarter hasn’t been great. The Raptors won the third quarter in two of their four wins and only did so by a very small margin. They beat the Chicago Bulls by seven points in the third quarter and the Magic by nine in their first meeting.
Against the Nuggets, that horrible third quarter cost the Raptors a lead—a small lead maybe, but still a lead. Against the Minnesota Timberwolves and Los Angeles Lakers, bad third quarters killed any chance of a comeback.
The Raptors were down 47-55 to the Timberwolves after the second quarter. Going into the half down eight points is a very manageable deficit. They lost the third quarter 15-35 and fell behind 62-90. The Raptors put themselves in a hole by giving up 32 points in the first quarter in this game, but that 15-35 third quarter was the nail in the coffin.
Against the Lakers, the first quarter was even worse. The Raptors gave up 36 points and only scored 23. They were down 54-66 after the half. Twelve points are not an insurmountable deficit. A 38-point quarter from the Lakers increased their lead to 22 points, and the Raptors couldn’t recover from that quarter despite a 43-point effort in the final 12 minutes.
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