Raptors follow up lacklustre trade deadline with epic collapse vs. Jazz

Just when it felt like the Toronto Raptors could actually flip the script on their season, they suffered one of their most disappointing losses of the campaign to the Utah Jazz on Friday night.

The Jazz snatched the game away from the Raptors in the fourth quarter after Toronto went up by as much as 13 points, while holding a double-digit lead for the majority of the second half. But with 5:17 to go, the Raptors gave up a 22-5 run to see the Jazz come away with a 122-116 win at Scotiabank Arena.

All things considered, it comes as a crushing blow. With the addition of Jakob Poeltl, it looked like the Raptors were going to put together their first four-game win streak of the season, perhaps justifying the front office’s decision to stand pat and add to the roster at the deadline rather than sell. But all that hope seemed to vanish as Toronto gave up another late-game lead in what’s become a trend for the 2022-23 season.

“It's unacceptable by our standards,” said Fred VanVleet post-game, after finishing with 17 points, four assists and five fouls.

VanVleet notes that it was difficult for the Raptors to get back in rhythm and play aggressive defence with the "way the whistle was going." The Jazz were able to get into the bonus within the first three minutes of the fourth quarter, as they ultimately went to the line 13 times in the final frame off of 11 Raptor fouls.

Once they got in their rhythm, Toronto couldn’t keep up with Colin Sexton and all-star Lauri Markkanen after largely containing them throughout the first three quarters. The duo combined for 15 of their 45 points in the fourth as they attacked the paint. They also found Walker Kessler near the basket — the rookie centre finished with eight of his 23 points to close out the Raptors.

“I take 100% of the blame on that,” said Precious Achiuwa post-game. “I’ve got to do a better job of anchoring the defence back there, getting guys where they need to be. Just got to be better.”

The fourth quarter is a sour note for this latest iteration of the Raptors following the NBA’s trade deadline. Aside from the few minutes to start and end the game, the Raptors held the lead. The Jazz pushed ahead with just two minutes to go and didn’t look back.

Absent from the Raptors’ response in the fourth quarter was the ability to get Pascal Siakam the ball. He ultimately finished with 35 points on 12-21 shooting, but only one of those shots came in the final five minutes of the game.

“In hindsight, obviously, he was the only one that was playing well, he probably should have had the ball more,” said VanVleet. “I wouldn’t have been mad if he had it the whole rest of the way, but it didn’t go that way.”

For the second straight game, Siakam started off hot, dropping 14 points in the first quarter, finishing the first half with 23 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field and 4-of-5 from distance.

Siakam was also able to welcome back his BFF Poeltl with an assist off a pick-and-roll action, as his 7-foot-1 frame gave the team a new, more traditional look in those sets.

“He fit right in, really didn’t look like he stood out,” said VanVleet. “He had a couple rolls, a couple nice defensive plays.”

Pre-game, Nurse spoke about how it’s expected Poeltl can make an immediate impact as the team’s best screener. Along with routinely freeing up the ball handler in pick-and-roll actions — which have been rare sighting for the Raptors this season — his screens helped provide extra spacing for the Raptors’ ball movement to flow.

During his media availability following the NBA trade deadline, president Masai Ujiri mentioned multiple times how the team was playing selfishly throughout the season. In a response, the Raptors opened the night with 16 assists on their first 16 field goals. Toronto ultimately finished with 28 assists, tied for their seventh most all season.

“I thought everything was going just the way we wanted it to for the first 36 minutes of that game,” said head coach Nick Nurse post-game. “I thought we were making really good decisions. We were obviously shooting it a little bit from the perimeter and our assist numbers were really high. ... We just couldn't stop the parade at the free throw line in the fourth quarter.”

While it was Poeltl’s welcome back party, the Raptors' other bigs in Precious Achiuwa and Chris Boucher also put their own exclamation marks on the game.

The highlight slams and the energy the Raptors opened the game with on Friday wasn’t enough. Instead, it drops them back to 26-31, their worst record through 57 games since the 2012-13 season. Toronto now holds the 11th seed in the Eastern Conference — outside the playoff picture.

For VanVleet, his focus remains clear as the team tries to get over another tough loss.

“I can't get too caught up on one moment. The situation is what it is. Gotta just have tunnel vision and focus on the work that's in front of us … Now we've got a tough film to watch.”

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