The Toronto Raptors need to use their five-game homestand that opens Sunday afternoon against the Golden State Warriors to regain the consistency they have been missing.
The Raptors’ usually determined defense was absent Friday in a 138-117 road loss to the lowly Washington Wizards.
After winning nine in a row, the Raptors have gone 4-9.
The Warriors, meanwhile, will be out to extend their three-game winning streak in the opener of a three-game road trip. Golden State’s 126-116 home victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday had head coach Steve Kerr declaring “we’re in a good place.”
In the loss to the Wizards, the Raptors fell behind by 11 points at halftime, crept to within two after the third quarter and were blown out 36-17 in the fourth.
A slack Raptors’ defense helped give the Wizards offense confidence early in the game, a lesson for their matchup with the Warriors.
“It’s never what the other team does, it’s what we can control,” Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic said. “From the start of the game, I felt we did not do a good enough job with our physicality, with the way we were guarding the ball. Just being in a position where we can help each other. We allowed them to play too free. In the third quarter, we were able to play more to our style defensively.”
They could not sustain it, however, and wasted a 29-point effort by Brandon Ingram and 25 points from Immanuel Quickley.
They were again without center Jakob Poeltl because of a lower back strain. RJ Barrett, however, appears ready to return soon from a sprained knee.
Scottie Barnes scored 14 points on Friday after he being listed as questionable due to illness. He also left the game briefly in the third quarter with a sore hip.
The Warriors got 23 points from Stephen Curry on Christmas Day.
Significantly, they had contributions from the bench that included 16 points from De’Anthony Melton and 14 points from veteran Al Horford.
Horford, 39, has been limited to 14 games and logged only 11 minutes on Thursday, yet made his presence felt with four rebounds, two assists and two steals.
“He definitely spreads the floor, challenges shots at the rim, and is a high-IQ-type player,” said Jimmy Butler, who also scored 14 points. “Then he’s just really, really fun to play with. As long as you’re out there having fun, being joyful, ball is moving, you’re guarding, you’re competing, that’s who he is, that’s who he has always been.”
“To have Trayce (Jackson-Davis) out there doing the same, defending, blocking shots, and then to have Al, suddenly we have a pretty solid front line should we choose to go big,” Kerr said.
Melton is continuing to gain conditioning after a long absence with an ACL injury.
“You have to remember he hasn’t played really for most of two years; that’s a long time,” Kerr said. “He’s still getting his rhythm back. … He’s had a lot of open threes that haven’t gone in yet. It will start going once his legs are underneath him and he’s found his groove.”
“Before, my first five minutes of the game, I felt like I was ready to pass out,” Melton said. “Now, I feel like I can play a lot longer.”
