Of all the numbers to emerge from a 7-20 start to the season by the Raptors, perhaps the most illuminating is the amount of times Toronto has trailed by double figures only to suffer a single-digit defeat.
One easily can interpret the stunning change in fortunes by arguing the Raptors show fight and resilience when facing such a huge hole.
Or, one can argue the Raptors are simply good enough when staging a comeback knowing the outcome, on most nights, has already been determined.
It’s a curious case study, one that ultimately underlines roster deficiency and depletion with the likes of Scottie Barnes, Immanuel Quickley and Jakob Poeltl injured.
Poeltl became the latest casualty on a night the Raptors fully embraced the season-long theme of turning a double-digit deficit into a single-digit loss.
When Poeltl went down in Monday’s second half against the visiting Chicago Bulls, it appeared he had suffered a leg injury. It turns out that he hurt his groin and wasn’t able to return.
Toronto trailed by as many as 16 points to the Bulls. The last time the Raptors forged a lead was in the opening quarter when Toronto held a 9-8 advantage.
Odds-makers had pegged the Raptors as 1.5-point underdogs going into the game.
When Jamal Shead banked in a 29-foot heave just before the final buzzer, bettors who took the Raptors ended up on the winning side of the ledger.
At no point this season have the Raptors entered a tip as the betting favourite.
At no point this season have the Raptors won a game when trailing by double figures, a number that increased to 0-17 following their 122-121 defeat to the Bulls. Of those 17 tips, eight times the Raptors have lost by single digits.
The Raptors have now dropped five games in a row.
For those inclined to wager a sum on the Raptors, Toronto has turned in as sure a betting proposition as there could be in the fickle world that is gambling. It’s too bad that covering point spreads isn’t part of the NBA standings.
If it was, the Raptors would be among the league leaders in posting an 18-8-1 mark. Heck, only the Cleveland Cavaliers have been better at covering the spread.
Of course, the Cavs are a very good team that has twice beaten the Raptors and have gone 1-1 against the reigning champion Boston Celtics.
The way the Raptors continue to battle back from deficits and how their fate is ultimately sealed in a close game pretty much sums up the state of this franchise — at times good, but far more often they are far from good, even when players are playing well.
This good-but-not-good-enough trend only goes so far before it becomes annoying.
Given the state of the roster with the team’s best two players sidelined and the team’s best interior player and lone rim protector sidelined, expect more of the same.
Redundancy is one thing until it gets old that is. Eventually, a breakthrough must be achieved and a sustained level of play over an extended stretch must be reached.
RJ Barrett is in the unenviable position of serving as the incumbent point guard, even though he’s not a point guard. No one can fault his effort or his commitment to embracing a new challenge, but in two straight games he has turned the ball over six times.
His playmaking is more than adequate, his ability to score without peer in the absence of Barnes, but Barrett is not a point guard. In time, perhaps, he’ll look back on this forced marriage and view it as necessary learning curve in his basketball evolution.
Once again, Barrett was denied late in the game in a big-time moment when the Raptors threatened the Bulls, the first on a block near the rim by Chicago’s Ayo Dosunmu, the second on a missed layup.
Barrett’s effort can never be questioned, but soon he’ll have to convert when a clutch basket is required.
For the eighth time this season, Barrett cracked the 30-point total with seven produced at home. In the loss to the Bulls, Barrett scored a game-high 32 points, dished off nine dimes, recorded five rebounds, two blocks and one steal.
but Barrett accounted for six of Toronto’s 17 combined turnovers, mistakes the Bulls parlayed into 23 points.
Gradey Dick gets into early foul trouble against the Bulls and then plays like a man possessed, especially in the fourth quarter when he evoked images of Vinnie (Microwave) Johnson for hoop fans of a certain vintage.
At both ends of the floor, Dick played with activity and ferocity. He ended the night by scoring 27 points on 9-for-20 shooting. He went 3-for-9 from beyond the three-point line on a night the Bulls outscored the Raptors by 15 points from distance.
Chicago attempted 14 more three-points than the Raptors, who simply can’t shoot from beyond the line.
In other words, Dick is forced to launch heave after heave, even when decent looks aren’t presented.
The same applies to Barrett when it comes to playing the point because there’s no other alternative.
The positives involved Chris Boucher and Shead.
The dreaded DNP-CD designation has been affixed to Boucher until he emerged as the first big off the bench Monday night. For the first time since last March, Boucher posted a double-double (11 points, 10 rebounds).
Shead only entered Monday’s tip in the final period, providing 12 minutes of high-end play that merits additional playing time. The kid scored or assisted on 25 of the Raptors’ 37 points, igniting a 16-6 run that brought the Raptors to within one point.
Shead checked in with a 10-point, six-assist, four-rebound and one steal game.
At halftime, the Raptors trailed the Bulls 53-50. Following the loss, Toronto had dropped its 32nd straight game when trailing at intermission.
Chew on that as one tries to digest all the remaining numbers that simply add up to a team that is simply not good.