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The Toronto Raptors left Inglewood with a 125-118 win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday night, and the way they got there is the part worth remembering. Toronto trailed by 13 entering the fourth quarter, then scored 47 points in the period to snap a two-game skid and move to 4-3. The Raptors comeback win was real, and so were the problems that made it necessary.
Those problems were easy to see in the second half of a back-to-back, with the Raptors playing without Kawhi Leonard or Jakob Poeltl, and Ja’Kobe Walter stepping into Leonard’s starting spot, carrying a bigger role.
The Fouls Piled Up in Raptors Comeback Win
Toronto committed 26 fouls, with RJ Barrett picking up four. The foul trouble forced Head Coach Darko Rajakovic to rely more on his bench at times, and it also left the Raptors playing catch-up after a Clippers team that led by as many as 16.
The free throws made it worse. Toronto shot 31-of-48 from the line (64.6%), and only Immanuel Quickley was close to perfect at 10-of-11. Everyone else combined to make 21 of 37 (56.8%), including Barrett at 4-of-8. In a game decided by seven points, those missed free throws kept the Clippers within reach even after the Raptors took the lead.
The Turnover Pressure Went Quiet
Forcing turnovers has been the engine of this defense, and it barely showed up. The Raptors had six steals and forced 15 Clippers turnovers, and seven of those came from Darius Garland. A night earlier against the Lakers, Toronto had 14 steals and forced 22. Against the Bulls on opening night, it forced 27.
A night after the Raptors’ turnovers weren’t enough to beat the Lakers, the lack of them was a different kind of problem. Toronto committed 13 turnovers against the Clippers, itself a respectable number, but without live-ball steals at the other end, the transition game that powered the early season never got going.
The Defense Gave Up Career Nights
Kobe Sanders scored a career-high 26 points with 5-of-11 on three-point attempts. Isaiah Jackson, coming off the bench for the first time this season, added 19 points on 9-of-11 shooting with eight rebounds. Kris Dunn, Brook Lopez and Gradey Dick each scored 12.
The Clippers scored 33 points in the first quarter, led 63-52 at halftime and entered the fourth up 91-78. Clippers Head Coach Tyronn Lue said Toronto’s size bothered his team around the rim late, especially after Lopez fouled out. The Collin Murray-Boyles Sixth-Man case took a back seat as he moved into the starting lineup, scoring 18 points with seven rebounds and two blocks. The Raptors’ interior defense tightened when it mattered.
Scottie Barnes Disappeared Until the End
Scottie Barnes had seven points through three quarters. At one stage in the third, he was 2-of-8 from the field with four points, even though he had seven rebounds and six assists by then. He had averaged 24.8 points entering the night and had scored a career-high 41 against Orlando earlier in the week, so the quiet stretch stood out.
Then he woke up. Barnes scored 15 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter, capped by a turnaround jumper with 2:08 left that gave Toronto its first lead at 111-109. That shot finished a 12-1 run. He also had 15 rebounds, eight assists and two steals.
The 47-Point Fourth Quarter
Toronto outscored Los Angeles 47-27 in the fourth quarter while shooting 61.9% from the field. Barnes had 15 points in the period, and Quickley had 14, and the 47-point quarter ties the franchise record for a fourth quarter in the play-by-play era. The Clippers shot about 30% in the fourth.
Quickley finished with 27 points on 8-of-13 shooting, Barrett had 26 on 10-of-19, and Murray-Boyles added 18. Toronto made only eight of 29 threes, so the comeback came from attacking the rim and the free-throw line.
The shooting problem is not new. Jamison Battle gave the second unit 20 points against the Lakers a night earlier, a performance that could earn Battle more minutes off the Raptors’ bench. Toronto will need better shooting in order to avoid falling behind as they did in the first place.
The Last Word
A comeback like this is good for a team that is 2-3 without Leonard, but it is not a pattern a team can rely on. The Raptors’ comeback win showed the depth of Barnes, Quickley and Barrett as scorers, and it gave a short-handed rotation a lift before Denver on Wednesday and Milwaukee on Friday. It also exposed a defense that gives up too many points early when the turnovers dry up, and a free-throw line that cost points in a close finish. If Leonard returns soon, the fixes may come naturally. If not, Rajakovic will need to address the fouls and the slow starts before a better team punishes them.
Featured Image: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
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