Inconsistency Plagues Raptors Again as One Bad Stretch Proves Costly in Loss to Nets

The Toronto Raptors had one bad stretch, opening the door for the Brooklyn Nets to come back before a Kyrie Irving three-pointer proved killer Friday night

Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports

Consistency has been the buzzword surrounding the Toronto Raptors as of late. On any given night the Raptors are more than capable of stringing together a couple of great stretches, maybe even a solid quarter or two, but far too often things tend to swing the other way. The offense becomes inconsistent, the defense even more so. Frankly, the only thing consistent about these Raptors had been their lack of it.

It's become a waiting game of doom for Toronto. Sure, an 18-point first-half lead is nice but sustainable? For this team? Nothing seems to be. It took all of nine minutes for the Brooklyn Nets to erase Toronto's double-digit first-half lead and from there the Raptors were in trouble.

Sure, Toronto played well enough to win. Scottie Barnes was a hero down the stretch after a lackluster start to the game and Fred VanVleet nailed a pair of clutch buckets, but winnable games have to be won. Instead, Kyrie Irving found himself one-on-one against VanVleet and the Nets star did he does best, nailing a step-back buzzer-beating three-pointer.

119-116 Brooklyn.

"It sucks. Sucks," said Barnes who is now experiencing the first four-game losing streak of his career. "Could have put them away in the first half. They made a run at the end of the second quarter to come back. Losing's not fun. I don't think none of us likes to lose."

If Irving hit the biggest shot of the game, it was the friendly face of Yuta Watanabe who hit the second biggest. After Barnes put Toronto up with a driving hook, Watanabe caught a kick-out pass from a swarmed Irving to put Brooklyn back up two.

None of it would have happened had Toronto's defense just stayed consistent after holding Brooklyn to 44 points in the first 23 minutes. But it took just three consecutive misses to end the second quarter, another three to open the second half, and a complete no-show in the third for the Raptors to find themselves behind the eight ball.

A 36-point third quarter is just killer for the Raptors these days. Defensive lapses prove so costly for a team that is completely unable to score in the half-court. Once opposing teams start scoring, things get ugly quickly.

Barnes, in particular, couldn't get anything going for the better part of the night. He was just 3-for-13 through three quarters as he struggled to beat the pressuring Ben Simmons. That all changed in the fourth, though. Barnes figured out Brooklyn's defense and began attacking the paint. He twice beat Simmons and Watanabe in the final three minutes, using his size and speed to get deep into the paint.

"He's a hell of a player. If we didn't know that already, you should know that now," VanVleet said of Barnes who was 5-for-5 in the fourth, finishing the night with 26 points thanks in part to 10-for-11 shooting from the charity stripe. "There's going to be ups and downs, there's going to be challenges, but the magic is in making it through that and persevering and fighting through adversity, and he's done that."

VanVleet too seems to have come through the other side of his own offensive struggles. He's now strung together a pair of 39-point outings, once again using his aggressiveness to get into the paint for buckets. Over the last two games, he's been 10-for-14 in the restricted area, continuing to show the downhill assertiveness Toronto loves to see from its undersized point guard.

But if the Raptors have found consistency these days it's only the bad kind. Four straight losses have shown this team just isn't quite ready to put together a full 48. 

Raptors Turn to Malachi Flynn

Raptors coach Nick Nurse made a strange comment pre-game, saying he was "kinda disappointed" he hadn't been playing Malachi Flynn more minutes recently. It is, of course, his job to dole out rotation minutes, and the fact that Flynn had played a total of 21 minutes over the last nine games was entirely Nurse's decision.

But anyways, Flynn finally saw early action Friday night. It was a welcomed decision for a team so bereft of three-point shooting and the obvious one considering Flynn came into the game shooting 48.6% from behind the arc. And what do you know, the offense-oriented point guard provided just that. A pair of three-pointers in the first half gave way to 13 points on the night including a nifty and-1 finish in the fourth quarter.

"He did a really good job of coming out really aggressive. He had a couple of shots, created a few, and he was it was a plus at the other end too," said Nurse. "I just thought that he was at least a threat for spacing in the second half."

Trying to predict Flynn's future minutes has usually been a fool's errand but there's no reason he shouldn't see some backup point guard minutes over Dalano Banton at least while O.G. Anunoby and Gary Trent Jr. are out.

Gary Trent Jr. a Late Scratch

Speaking of which, Trent was a late addition to the injury report for Toronto, ruled out with left quad soreness. The injury flared up pre-game but Nurse couldn't provide any further information on a timeline for a return.

Yuta Watanabe Returns

Watanabe was welcomed back to Toronto with a round of applause from the Raptors faithful. Nothing much has changed for Watanabe who continues to be an all-hustle bench difference-maker for the Nets when he's healthy. He picked off a pass from Pascal Siakam and took it the other way for a dunk. His 3-for-4 three-point shooting proved pivotal for Brooklyn as he finished the night with a game-high 17 points off the bench

Up Next: Golden State Warriors

The Raptors will be off Saturday before opening a back-to-back on Sunday when the Steph Curry-less Golden State Warriors come to town for a 6 p.m. ET tipoff at Scotiabank Arena.