While the Toronto Blue Jays were busy handling business against the Los Angeles Dodgers in a whopper of a World Series Game 3 at Dodger Stadium, the Toronto Raptors were getting their business handed to them nearly 1,400 miles away at Frost Bank Center against the San Antonio Spurs, falling 121-103 on Monday night.
By the way, both the Raptors and Blue Jays games started at 8:00 pm ET. The Raptors game ended around 10:30 p.m. ET, while the Blue Jays game ended almost four and a half hours later at nearly 3:00 am.
Just wild stuff.
To the Raptors, however, as this game was the second half of a back-to-back. After falling to Cooper Flagg and the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday, Toronto moved from one No.1 pick phenom to the next, taking on Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs.
Coming into this one, the 21-year-old was averaging 33.3 points, 11.7 rebounds, and 6.0 blocks, while shooting 56.9 per cent from the field and leading the Spurs to an undefeated 3-0 record.
As has been the main problem for the Raptors to start the season, it was a horrid defensive start. Reigning Rookie of the Year award winner Stephon Castle had two easy drives to the rim, while Harrison Barnes canned an open triple to help San Antonio get out to a 10-2 lead.
It then turned into the Brandon Ingram and Victor Wembanyama show. While Ingram drained midrange dribble jumper after midrange dribble jumper, Wembanyama used his alien-like frame and skill combination to do 360-degree layups.
The Raptors brought it back to within four, but buckets from Dylan Harper, Devin Vassell, and a bank 3-pointer from Keldon Johnson sparked a 13-0 Spurs run, as the home team jumped back out to a 27-10 lead.
Toronto responded with a 12-5 run themselves, and it was basically all by rookie Collin Murray-Boyles. The 20-year-old exploded for a nine-point burst in only four minutes of play, with his first career bucket coming as the roll-man, his second career bucket also coming to the roll-man, before nailing an open triple and grabbing another open dunk. He finished his breakout game with 19 points on 7-of-13 shooting (3-of-5 from three), three rebounds, three steals, and a block.
All that still wouldn’t be enough to end the quarter with a single-digit deficit, however, as Toronto allowed 41 points to trail San Antonio 41-29 after one.
The second quarter wouldn’t go much better for the Raptors, as it took nearly three minutes for Toronto to score its first points, eventually coming from a pair of RJ Barrett free throws. Ja’Kobe Walter also made his season debut after dealing with an illness to start the year. The second-year guard immediately made his impact felt, finding Ingram with a nice bounce-pass off a cut, while providing strong point of attack defence.
Ultimately, the first half of the frame would be all Spurs, outscoring Toronto 14-4 to hold a 55-33 lead. Toronto outscored San Antonio by three the rest of the way, but the Spurs finished the half 66.7 per cent from the field, and 53.3 per cent from distance, putting up 69 points to lead the Raptors by 19 at the break.
Toronto has been abysmal on defence to start the year, but that trend didn’t continue to start the second half.
In the first three and a half minutes, Toronto forced five turnovers and actually held the Spurs scoreless, beginning on a 5-0 run, prompting a Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson timeout.
The pace slowed down a notch in the third frame, and the Raptors were finding ways to score. First, Murray-Boyles had a fancy tip off the backboard from a Jamal Shead lob, before Barrett put former Raptors Bismack Biyombo on a poster.
Those two players stood out on both ends for Toronto and were the best guys they had Monday night, with Barrett finishing with a team-high 25 points, two rebounds, and two assists. Despite their performances, Toronto managed to only outscore San Antonio by two, as Wembanyama’s +31 while on the court helped the Spurs maintain their lead, which got up to 95-78, heading into the final frame.
The fourth quarter was largely the same as the rest of the game. Barrett continued to be efficient all-around the court, second overall pick Harper continued to get to the paint at will, and Wemby continued to do freaky things.
Unfortunately, Jakob Poeltl’s night ended early, exiting the game with lower back tightness. He played 24 minutes, going 1-for-6 from the field, adding two points, two rebounds and three fouls. The seven-footer has been playing through a sore back to begin the year.
The Raptors started cooking with gas after this; however, turning three live-ball turnovers by the Spurs, sparked by Murray-Boyles, into a 9-0 run to cut the lead down to eight.
The Spurs were not fazed, however, immediately responding with a 5-0 run, before back-to-back Harrison Barnes triples extended the Spurs’ lead to 14 with just under five minutes left.
San Antonio would hold this double-digit lead the rest of the way as he benches cleared, handing Toronto their third straight loss.
