Raptors Season Ends at Free Throw Line as 2nd Half Collapse Proves Costly vs Bulls

The Toronto Raptors could never do the easy things this season as missed free throws proved fatal against the Chicago Bulls

John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports

The Toronto Raptors simply could not get out of their own way.

It always seemed more difficult than it needed to be for this group. For all the talent they supposedly had on paper, there was always something missing. It was as if two plus two equaled three and far too often this season it did.

Really it should come as no surprise how Toronto fared in Wednesday’s must-win play-in game against the Chicago Bulls.

Could they have won?

Sure.

They climbed ahead by as many as 19 in the second half and at times looked borderline unstoppable. But the simple stuff was never quite easy enough. An 18-for-36 showing from the charity stripe ended Toronto’s season in embarrassing fashion 109-105.

“That was a tough one. I thought they played really hard,” said Raptors coach Nick Nurse. “I feel bad for them. I think they tried, I think they tried and played really hard.”

"Any way you slice it, a loss in the play-in is going to be frustrating," added Fred VanVleet. "It's hard to explain the free throw shooting. It's a tough way to do it in a one-possession game. But I'm not going to summarize the whole season based on one game."

Toronto built this team under the impression that you could always teach shooting. Bring us your most athletic and versatile defenders, the organization preached, and we’ll teach them how to shoot.

The fact of the matter is: That development never happened. The Raptors were among the league’s very worst shooting teams all season and it never changed. Sure, it may have been annoying having DeMar DeRozan’s daughter screaming every time the Raptors attempted a free throw. But c’mon now. This is the NBA.

“I think if you ever miss over 10 in a game, it's really hard to win,” Nurse said.

Siakam’s 5-for-11 from the free throw line marred an otherwise brilliant night from the All-Star forward who did his best DeRozan impression for most of the evening, rising up repeatedly to bury the Bulls to a flurry of mid-range jumpers. The Alex Caruso and Patrick Beverley combo Chicago sent his way put up little resistance as the 6-foot-9 Siakam connected eight of 13 mid-range shots en route to a team-high 32-point showing.

But for all Toronto’s success in the first half and early in the third, the Raptors simply had no answers for Zach LaVine. With O.G. Anunoby glued to DeRozan, LaVine had his way with VanVleet and Toronto’s other point-of-attack defenders.

“They were really spreading the floor on us and getting by kind of our first line of defense and getting it deep towards the rim a lot,” Nurse said.

LaVine came alive for 17 of his 39 points in the third quarter, digging Chicago out of their second-half hole before a layup from Caruso off a bad pass from Scottie Barnes tied things up midway through the fourth. LaVine then put Chicago ahead three with a pair of free throws after an iffy foul called against Anunoby on the baseline and Toronto never responded.

“We didn’t have our best fourth quarter in terms of playing the way that we [should] play and we couldn’t get stops,” said Siakam. “At the end of the day, it’s probably gonna come down to those free throws but we had a good lead and didn’t execute how we wanted to.”

The loss ended Toronto’s hope of a playoff berth this year and the season-long desire for postseason experience. Considering the Raptors could have, and probably should have tanked at the trade deadline, their inability to do even make the playoffs is devastating.

“We were a bucket away from a bunch of big (games),” said Nurse. “So some of that stuff probably catches up to us in the end. You know, having to play in the play-in, just a few more wins here or there maybe we can climb up and get there.”

But now Toronto turns its attention toward a future that seems far less bright than this time last year. VanVleet, Gary Trent Jr., and Jakob Poeltl are all heading into unrestricted free agency. Questions loom about Nurse’s future with the team and changes seem to be on the horizon.

"I'll probably sit in this one for a while," said VanVleet who had 26 points including seven three-pointers. "I'll probably beat myself up over this one for a while and let it hurt and let it sink in, and then get back to the drawing board."

If last season was all about hope and optimism for the future. This year’s season was a concerning step back and showed there’s plenty of work to be done.

Up Next: Locker Cleanout

The Raptors will hold season-ending media availabilities at some point in the next few days. Let's just say, those should be interesting.