Raptors film room: James Harden cooks them in the clutch
The Raptors got outscored 20-8 in the final 8 minutes of the game (including overtime). James Harden destroyed them on the other end.
How the Raptors lost a very winnable game:
From Samson Folk’s recap:
Ingram hasn’t radically altered his game or reached new heights of efficiency. In fact, he’s down across the board in terms of shot making, efficiency and creation with the Raptors. By the numbers, it’s probably his worst playmaking season in 5 years. What he has done though, is slide right back into a winning situation and one that he has a large part in motivating. It was very meaningful to All-Star voters that they could look at the Raptors, who are far better this year than last, and see Ingram leading them in scoring. I suspect it will be to coaches as well. Ingram has also been very healthy in a year where much of the league isn’t. You can look under the hood and try and highlight intention, approach etc. to move credit away from Ingram and towards others, but there is a very convincing and direct line of thinking that leads right to the feet of the Raptors leading scorer.
“What I’ve seen with him is, this is work ethic. He comes in every day. He comes in early, you know? He works on his stuff. So, he’s a true professional. Besides his size and length and shot making and stuff like that – besides that, I can see why he’s been as good as he is.” – RJ Barrett on Ingram earlier this season
The offensive approach in this game was a pretty good example of why some of Ingram’s numbers are down. The Raptors run less pick n’ roll and rely less on one player to carry a great deal of usage for them. No NBA team is truly egalitarian, but the Raptors run closer to that than quite a few teams. 7 different players would reach double-digits for the Raptors in this one. Gradey Dick put together consecutive great scoring games, Jamal Shead was massive as the Raptors lead guard, and Ochai Agbaji linked together a few threes for his season high. Ingram was plugging in where he would be most helpful and by the mid point of the fourth quarter was sitting with only 17 points. He got there on 6-9 shooting, though.
The Raptors aren’t scared to break from the egalitarian vibes for late game offense, by the way. That’s the place where Ingram’s place atop the Raptors hierarchy is felt the most. I’ll be honest with you though, Harden being able to slalom to the bucket for layups seemingly at will? That was a far more effective offense than what the Raptors could muster late in the fourth. So, the slow crawl back to a tie game couldn’t be avoided as he dragged his Clippers to overtime and through it with unreal shot making.
The late stuff really was a strong example of what might ultimately hold Ingram back from All-Star status. He was Harden’s target for the first two possessions of overtime. Pointed 2-man actions that had one goal: give Harden the ball with Ingram on him. The result was points for the Clippers. Offensively, the clutch time stuff didn’t go well for Ingram, which despite his game winner against the Pacers, hasn’t gone very well.
Before the Raptors loss tonight, the Raptors were 15-6 in clutch time games. Their leading shot taker is Ingram, who has shot just 34-percent from the floor with nearly as many assists as turnovers. Don’t get me wrong, the Raptors don’t really have anyone performing well offensively in overtime, they do their winning on the defensive side of things. However, Ingram’s 4 straight missed shots combined with the turnovers was a tough pill to swallow down the stretch. Ingram yelled “that’s why they brought me here!” after his game winner against the Pacers. He’s right, to some degree.
However, as important as Ingram has been (and that is very important), there’s still a lot more talent to be tapped into as a Raptor. Whether he gets selected as an All-Star or not, that has to be a major focus for the Raptors through the rest of the season.
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