Defensive Progress Vanishes for Raptors in Let-Down Loss to Warriors

The Toronto Raptors couldn't get anything going defensively in a crucial loss to Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors

D. Ross Cameron-USA TODAY Sports

The eyes of the NBA world have descended on the Toronto Raptors.

It seems as if the entire league is waiting on the Raptors to make a decision ahead of the trade deadline. Will they or won't they be sellers next month? Coming into Friday with the sixth-worst record in the NBA, it only made sense for Toronto to look toward the lottery. And yet, the Raptors don't seem to be quite there yet. As ESPN reported Friday, Toronto wants to play things out a little longer to see if this seven-game West Coast road trip can turn things around.

Wednesday showed the ceiling of this roster. Toronto was dominant against the Sacramento Kings, playing the kind of defense this organization had hoped for coming into the year. 

On Friday, we saw the floor. As has been the case far too often this season, Toronto couldn't hold its own on defense. Easy layups and open threes plagued the Raptors all night. Eventually, the dam broke. Klay Thompson and Donte DiVincenzo nailed corner threes and Golden State Warriors ran away 129-117 dropping the Raptors back to six games below .500.

Whatever happens next month with Fred VanVleet, the 28-year-old point guard did his best to keep this group together. He silenced Golden State's early fourth-quarter run, checking back in before quickly stripping DiVincenzo and throwing a full-court pass to Pascal Siakam to pull Toronto to within three. Moments later he responded again to the Warriors, nailing a deep three off the bounce.

That was as close as Toronto would get. The Warriors just continued to pick apart the Raptors, racking up 40 assists on 50 made field goals including four assisted threes late in the fourth that sunk Toronto.

All that defensive progress the Raptors seemed to show Wednesday night against the Kings vanished Friday. Miscommunication, defensive lapses, and at times a lack of energy created far too many easy looks for Golden State. There were nearly a half dozen wide-open layups or catch-and-shoot chances for the Warriors with Steph Curry racking up 13 of his game-high 35 points in the first quarter.

At one point, Curry split Toronto's defense in transition for an easy bucket at the rim. He found Kevon Looney for a dunk when the Raptors doubled him on the perimeter and Thompson was left open for another layup as Golden State tallied 34 in the first quarter alone.

But VanVleet was equally lethal. He nailed a pair of deep threes early, going toe-to-toe with the greatest to ever do it. At one point, Golden State broke out the box-and-one against VanVleet, using the same defense Toronto made famous in the 2019 Finals to slow down Curry.

VanVleet cooled off a little after a 14-point first quarter but he turned that extra attention into buckets for others, finding Scottie Barnes and Precious Achiuwa with great finds in the paint. He added two more assists on a pair of threes from Barnes and Chris Boucher in the corner on drive-and-kick looks.

In the third, VanVleet picked up where he left off in the first, tallying nine straight Raptors points before a dump-off pass to Achiuwa again pulled Toronto to within one just before the fourth. He finished the game with a team-high 28 points and 10 assists.

Barnes, meanwhile, was stellar throughout with 24 points, six rebounds, and five assists. He stripped Jordan Poole on the first possession of the game, turning it into a dunk at the other end. Later he took it end-to-end, doing his best Draymond Green impression, grabbing the rebound, faking a pass from deep in the paint, and taking it up for two.

He had two of Toronto's rare defensive highlights on the night, first snuffing out a Curry layup with a block huge from behind late in the third. He followed it up with a late shot-clock block on Klay Thompson. But an errant pass out-of-bounds on the ensuing possession led to a Curry three-pointer to put Golden State up nine.

At 22-28, time is running out. A few easy games against Houston and Utah should help, but turning the tides of this season means beating some good teams. The Raptors had a chance to prove they shouldn't be reconfigured this season. Instead, as has been the case far too often, they squandered it.

Anunoby Checks Out Injured

O.G. Anunoby exited in the second quarter with a left wrist injury he sustained falling awkwardly going up for a layup. He was fouled by JaMychal Green and stayed in the game to shoot the free throws before checking out. He was ultimately ruled out just before halftime.

Up Next: Portland Trail Blazers

The Raptors will be right back at it Saturday night when they head north to take on the Portland Trail Blazers at 10 p.m. ET.