With just a handful of games left in the season and a playoff spot on the line, the Raptors should be locked in and leaving it all on the court every single game. That was not the case against the Kings, and the loss made a few things abundantly clear: The Raptors still have a ton of work to do until they can consistently be a top team in the Eastern Conference, and they are trending in the absolutely wrong direction to close out the season. And, to make matters worse, it’s no one’s fault but their own.
You want to play your best basketball to close out the regular season. Especially as a lower seed, you want to go into the playoffs with confidence and the knowledge that you can do everything it takes to keep games competitive and give yourself a chance to win.
That’s not the feeling the Raptors are creating right now. Instead, they are making fans wonder if they can even finish the season with a top-six seed or if they will end up in the play-in tournament.
If the Raptors cannot change the trajectory this loss put them on, it could ruin their postseason aspirations and force them to make some tough decisions in the offseason.
Darko Rajaković called out the Raptors’ effort and intensity
Saying that the Raptors’ 123-115 loss to the Kings was disappointing almost feels like an understatement. The Kings have the worst record in the Western Conference. That’s a team a supposed playoff squad has to beat even without Brandon Ingram and Immanuel Quickley—especially considering the implications for the standings. The Raptors are now back in the play-in tournament and 1.5 games behind the Hawks in fifth place.
For Darko Rajaković, the reason for the defeat was simple: lack of effort and discipline on the boards and on defense, and the wrong energy to start the game.
“Rebounding,” Rajaković said after the game. “It came down to that. They dominated the glass. They had sixteen more rebounds than us. They had 19 offensive rebounds, and Precious [Achiuwa] had eleven of them. We just did not have enough discipline, enough effort to close out those possessions.”
He also called out the Raptors’ defense on DeMar DeRozan in the second half. “We did a very poor job with discipline there, fouling him, sending him to the free-throw line,” Rajaković said.
He also added, “We were fighting back. We cut down the lead. But when you don’t approach the game from the start with the level of intensity and attention to detail that you need to have, this is the outcome.”
The Raptors have some tough games left to close out the season
The Raptors still have two games left against struggling teams. Their next game is against the Grizzlies, and their last game is against the Nets. Those are must-win games, just like the one against the Kings should have been. After a deflating loss like this, the Raptors will enter those games with a lot of pressure.
The other four games against the Celtics, Heat, and Knicks promise to be even tougher. Two back-to-back games against the Heat could have serious implications for the standings, and the matchups with the Celtics and Knicks are the Raptors’ final chance to prove that they can compete with the top teams in the conference.