Raptors film room: their starters are beginning to dominate

The Raptors starters were +17 in 17 minutes in a six-point loss to the Nuggets in Denver. What went wrong? What went right? Is this a moral victory?

I broke it down here:

Here’s Samson Folk on the game:

Poeltl though, was… powerful… impactful, and game changing in what he brought from the center position to keep the Raptors out front. He was the efficient and necessary shot making punch on the inside, but his defensive playmaking and size was imperative to everything the Raptors wanted to do. It helped the Raptors keep the Nuggets at bay with Barnes and co. on the bench. When Poeltl finally checked out, he comfortably made way for Barnes, who blocked a Jokic drop step and muscled his way for layup on the other side to close out the third quarter up 94-85. The stage was set.

The Raptors were not prepared for the Jamal Murray inferno to start the fourth quarter. He authored an 8-0 sprint, purely borne out of shot making, and a continued stretch after that to snatch the lead away. The Raptors had fallen squarely into a dog fight. After a couple great shots from Quickley and one big launch from Hardaway Jr. the game was tied at 101. Jokic checked in, Barnes checked out, Poeltl replaced him. The first aerial battle between the two European bigs went to Poeltl who brought down the rebound. The game worked its way to under two minutes, 111-110 for the Nuggets, and with both teams sluggishly throwing haymakers. Slumped shoulders, heavy breathing, but shot making all the same. A Gordon cut, and and-1, a rebound on a missed free throw that Jokic outwrestled Poeltl for, and 2 free throws after that put the Nuggets up by 5.

The Raptors opted to keep the ball in the hands of Barnes, who attacked his man, and towards Jokic. He got to a bucket of his own, and dished off to Poeltl for an and-1 to tie the game up. Down the stretch the Nuggets would have the vaunted and famous Murray/Jokic 2-man actions to go to. The Raptors didn’t have its equal. They didn’t even get a chance to search for it as the Nuggets fouled Poeltl to send him to the line, where he went 0/2. The game slipped from their grasp.

It’s not like there’s a lot of teams that are capable of late game execution like the Nuggets are, but the Raptors were simply outdone down the stretch. It’s often been the case that the Raptors need to improve at the fast play through the bulk of the game, and equally so of the slow, late game stuff. In this one, their offense was mostly good enough, but their league best clutch defense couldn’t hold the Nuggets down.

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