No NBA team has lost more games than the Raptors and no other team has gone winless on the road.
The Raptors are a team that has shown it can making losing somewhat fun and entertaining, but there comes a time when all the fun amid all the lost games becomes worrisome.
That moment has arrived as the Raptors complete their five-game trip with a tip Tuesday night against the equally inept Milwaukee Bucks.
There are no expectations with this Raptors team, but plenty in Milwaukee knowing the tenuous future surrounding Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Every Bucks loss raises the scary spectre of the Greek Freak wanting out.
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The addition of Damian Lillard has not gone according to plan as the Bucks enter their game against the Raptors with a troublesome 2-8 record.
The Raptors sit at 2-9 following back-to-back losses in Los Angeles — the first to the Clippers in a nail-biter and the second to LeBron James and the Lakers on a Sunday night, when the game completely got away for the visitors in the second half and 70 points were surrendered.
Pre-game, head coach Darko Rajakovic offered a mea culpa when he acknowledged how the ball should not have been in Jakob Poeltl’s hands on an inbounds play late Saturday night.
Time and score, game management and late-game shot creation have all been exposed, as has Toronto’s porous defence and its inability to protect the basketball.
Going 0-5 on a trip is a possibility, even against a Bucks team that has not looked good.
In the big picture, the more losses the Raptors are able to pile up, the better their chances at the draft lottery.
That zoomed-out assessment sounds encouraging knowing the best way to acquire talent is by securing a high draft pick when a team’s 30-year history has shown no bona fide free agent in his prime years is inclined to sign with Toronto.
When only 11 games have been played, describing any tip as a must-win seems absurd. Eventually, the Raptors will have to beat an opponent on the road, eventually a late-game moment that demands execution gets achieved and eventually a key stop is made.
The Bucks are vulnerable, while the Raptors remain susceptible on defence.
Antetokounmpo is more than capable of duplicating James’ feat that would see the King score 19 points, dish off a season-high 16 assists and record 10 rebounds in his third triple-double of the season and the 115th in his unmatched 22-year career.
The Raptors don’t have anyone capable of keeping Antetokounmpo out of the paint and there has been no sign they are even built to defend the perimeter.
A 123-103 loss to the Lakers looks much worse considering L.A. did not have Anthony Davis, who was forced to leave the game with an eye injury in the third quarter.
When Davis is fully engaged, he’s among the very best in basketball. He entered the night as the league’s top scorer and showed his defensive prowess, which often gets overlooked.
Davis was injured when he met Poeltl at the rim. Davis would get hit in the face by Poeltl’s off hand as the nine-time all-star blocked Poeltl’s dunk attempt with 5:16 left in the third quarter. At the time, the Raptors led 73-70.
Do the rough math and the Raptors basically allowed the Lakers to score 53 points in 17 minutes to close out the evening.
With 1:40 left in the game, Bronny James entered the fray with the Lakers leading 120-100.
They can’t defend, don’t have a legitimate bucket-getter, are prone to make sloppy and careless mistakes in crucial moments, but they never give up because they are always trying.
The group that prefers to embrace the glass-is-half-full approach will take solace. The half-empty crowd will grow tired, if they haven’t already, of moral victories.
Make no mistake of Sunday’s loss, which had no silver lining to it.
The way the Raptors ended their game in Sacramento wasn’t good, either. They gave themselves a chance in Denver and had an opportunity to pull out a win against the Clippers.
One can point to the return of Immanuel Quickley, who looked good in his first game since opening night, but he was not so good the next night against the Lakers.
The ball had a tendency to stick in Toronto’s game versus the Lakers and better off-ball movement from Quickley is required.
The head coach needs to be better, but very much like the players he’s coaching, Rajakovic is learning on the fly.
Some good moments were produced by Ochai Agbaji, while Bruno Fernando seems to be turning into an intriguing big man on a roster short on size.
During his pre-game availability Sunday, Lakers rookie head coach JJ Redick was asked about Gradey Dick.
“He has the ultimate green light, the ultimate freedom (and) that’s a great place to be,” said Redick, a noted three-point spot-up shooter during his playing days. “He’s a fantastic offensive player.”
A bit of a stretch perhaps, but Dick is getting more attention by defenders. Heading into Tuesday’s tip, Dick has scored a combined 36 points in his past three games.
He went 0-for-5 from beyond the three-point arc in Sacramento, but bounced back by drilling four of eight shots from distance in the Raptors two games in Los Angeles.
With Quickley back, fewer shots for Dick were expected, but at some point, the ball needs to find Dick when a late-game basket is required.
Winning isn’t the measuring stick for a Raptors team bent on a rebuild. Winning, even if comes infrequently, is necessary to reward a team for its efforts.
The Raptors have lost four in a row and eight of nine heading into Tuesday night.
All is not lost when taking into account the big picture, but losing cannot and must not be tolerated.
The path the Raptors have chosen to forge is strewn with issues and the team’s current trip has only magnified them.