Welcome to Raptors Roundup! A weekly recap of everything going on in the world of the Toronto Raptors.
With trade season fast approaching, the Raptors started this week riding a four game losing streak, and the rumours began to swirl. It seems as if Toronto has been linked to nearly every big name on the market, not surprising given their trade history.
However, Toronto currently sits higher in the Eastern Conference standings than expected, and there’s something to be said for roster continuity in a time of impatience and turnover. Nonetheless, the Raptors are rumoured to be interested in Anthony Davis, Domantas Sabonis, and even Lamelo Ball. While they may be eyeing a big fish trade, I find it far more likely they make a move along the edges for say, Nick Richards, Goga Bitadze, or Daniel Gafford, three other names they’ve been linked to.
There’s a common thread between most of the names Toronto is linked to: they’re all bigs. It shouldn’t be a shock that Toronto is looking at adding size to the roster, with Jakob Poeltl’s back injury, they need an insurance plan for the games he’s destined to miss. This week alone he’s missed two of the four matchups. If Poeltl were healthy, I don’t think there’d be a need for another big man. But Sandro Mamukelashvili isn’t a good enough rim protector or rebounder to play as a full time starting center. And in reality, Scottie Barnes typically takes on the role of center when Mamukelashvili starts, and that’s not a role you want your superstar forward in on a nightly basis.
As the rumour mill churns on, there are still basketball games to be played, and Toronto had four this week that we have to recap, so let’s get into it.
Raptors get back to winning ways, defeat Heat 106-96
With both teams staring down the barrel of a five game losing streak, this game was of utmost importance to stop the skid. It was Miami who got out ahead early with a pair of threes from Andrew Wiggins and Bam Adebayo before Brandon Ingram responsed with a pull up of middy of his own.
As the first quarter raged on, or rather, begrudgingly trudged forward, both teams exchanged tough shots against strong defense. It was Gradey Dick who sparked a run for Toronto, and gave them the lead heading in to the second quarter.
He enters the game and gets vertical on the glass to steal a contested offensive rebound. He back tips the ball away from his Norman Powell and dashes out into the open court, finishing and-1 after receiving the touchdown pass. Misses a runner on the next possession, grabs the rebound, misses, loses on the glass this time to the gigantic Kel’el Ware, but then steals the ball from him for fun. Toronto ends up with a triple. A flyby Dick closeout prompts a drive, a bad pass, another Miami Heat turnover. Dick peel switches to the corner to defang a drive.
And then, of course, he cashes an uncontested triple to beat the first-quarter buzzer after Jamal Shead stampede cuts to open the shot.
- Louis Zatzman – Raptors’ defence, bench shot-making return to throttle Heat
In the second quarter, Miami turned the heat up. Norman Powell hit a transition three over the outstretched arm of Dick, then drew a foul shooting another one over him. A couple minutes later Powell knocked down another three, before Jaime Jaquez Jr. took the ball to the rim for the easy two. It had been three minutes since Toronto had last scored and the Heat took an 11-point lead.
Shead dragged Toronto back into the game. He found Barnes in the middle of the zone for a jumper, drove for a laydown pass to Sandro Mamukelashvili, then hit a triple after a brilliant Scottie Barnes pass across the court after drawing two defenders.
- Louis Zatzman – Raptors’ defence, bench shot-making return to throttle Heat
Shead, Barnes, and Ingram brought Toronto back within six at halftime, a promising sign considering how bad things were looking just a few minutes earlier.
The third quarter was a back-and-forth team battle, with both teams seeing eight different players score. The highlight however was Collin Murray-Boyles massive block on Adebayo at the 5 minute mark of the third, completely erasing a surefire dunk.
In the third quarter, IQ hit a triple and got a steal. Scottie really came alive in the second half. He had a nice contest on Mitchell’s 3 and when he was called for an offensive “What!!?? But that’s not a foul!” call, he channelled that frustration. Scottie willed himself a basket in the ensuing possession and then went to the post and bought himself a bucket.
When Mamu tried to match the Heat’s pace, he dribbled off his foot. The Heat would go on a 9-0 run towards the end of the third quarter, but Scottie’s lay-up would keep the Raptors within three.
After Miami’s 9-0 run, Toronto started the fourth quarter with a 9-0 run of their own, fueled by two layups from Immanuel Quickley, a three from Mamukelashvili and a layup from Dick.
To close things out, it was Ingram and Barnes exchanging buckets with Jaquez Jr., Adebayo and Powell trying to keep Miami close. However, they were no match for Barnes, who snagged two massive offensive rebounds to seal the win for the Raptors.
Top Performers:
- Brandon Ingram – 28 PTS, 5 REB, 5 AST, 1 BLK, 9-19 FG, 5-7 3FG, 5-5 FT, 4 TO, -1 +/-
- Scottie Barnes – 17 PTS, 10 REB, 6 AST, 3 BLK, 2 STL, 8-16 FG, 1-4 3FG, 0-1 FT, 4 TO, +14 +/-
- Jamal Shead – 8 PTS, 3 REB, 10 AST, 1 BLK, 3-9 FG, 2-6 3FG, 1 TO, +27 +/-
Barnes and Ingram lead the way, Raptors defeat Bucks 111-105
As I said in the quick reaction for this one, Brandon Ingram is on an absolute HEATER lately, and started the game strong with three made threes in the first quarter. With the help of Barnes who had 9 of his own and Mamukelashvili who chipped in 7, the Raptors took a 6-point lead into the second quarter.
In the second quarter, Ingram’s scoring slowed but lucky for him, Ochai Agbaji had probably his best quarter of the season. He hit two corner threes, which is more than he’s hit the rest of the season combined, crazy, but a story for another day. With another big quarter from Mamukelashvili, reaching 14 points by the half, the Raptors took a 4-point lead into halftime. Considering the big performances from various role-players, four points is a surprisingly small lead, but turnovers and a lack of foul calls gave Milwaukee a foot in the door.
In the third quarter, as if to compensate for a lack of foul calls earlier, the Raptors got to the free throw line 13 times. Scottie and BI were both putting pressure on the rim – they combined for 18 points – with 16 of those points coming from either the charity stripe or in the paint. The Bucks continued to loiter around with Porter turning up the noise, trying to throw down a loud, nasty, and angry dunk. But Dick hit a much-needed triple to enforce a double-digit lead.
- Teru Ikeda – Raptors win, but let Bucks loiter for too long
In the fourth quarter, it was Quickley who finally found his stride. He got to the line for three points, and down the final stretch grabbed an offensive board for the easy push shot and hit a step back over Bobby Portis. Combine that with Shead’s late three and lay-up, and the Raptors had a 10-point lead with less than a minute to go. While it was the forward’s who brought Toronto to the end, the two point guards dragged them across the finish line. Not the prettiest win, but a win nonetheless.
Top Performers:
- Brandon Ingram – 29 PTS, 8 REB, 3 AST, 2 STL, 9-18 FG, 4-6 3FG, 7-8 FT, 4 TO, +13 +/-
- Scottie Barnes – 24 PTS, 11 REB, 2 AST, 2 BLK, 2 STL, 10-14 FG, 2-3 3FG, 2-5 FT, 5 TO, +6 +/-
- Sandro Mamukelashvili – 18 PTS, 7 REB, 2 AST, 1 STL, 8-12 FG, 2-6 3FG, +6 +/-
Raptors outclassed by Celtics, lose 96-112
For the Raptors last two games of the week, I will have to rely on my fellow RR writers to fill in the gaps for me. I’m currently on my way home for the holidays and am writing this from a hotel room somewhere outside of Quebec City. As such, I didn’t have the chance to watch these games as closely as I would have liked and Sunday’s are typically the day I use to find my statistics. So for this one I’ll use a quote that summarizes the game. Starting with this damning quote from Samson:
Even Mamu, who was their saving grace on offense — providing 24 points on 6 made triples — was inextricably linked to their struggles on the defensive glass. The Raptors, down two starters, got so little from players that they have to be able to depend on. They will forever be behind the 8-ball, if guys don’t simply play better. Over half the Celtics defensive possessions came in a zone. The Raptors players were worse than mediocre in reading and attacking it. It’s no wonder they lost.
- Samson Folk – Raptors look like pretenders in loss to Celtics
Top Performers
- Brandon Ingram – 24 PTS, 4 REB, 7 AST, 1 BLK, 10-17 FG, 3-7 3FG, 1-2 FT, 3 TO, +8 +/-
- Sandro Mamukelashvili – 24 PTS, 5 REB, 1 AST, 1 BLK, 9-13 FG, 6-9 3FG, -6 +/-
- Collin Murray-Boyles – 9 PTS, 6 REB, 4 AST, 1 BLK, 4-8 FG, 1-3 3FG, -18 +/-
Raptors EMBARRASSED by Nets, lose 81-96
As it turns out, this game was so embarrassing that an instant recap was not written the night of the game. And when this goes live I will be on the road once again so nothing formal here. From what I saw on Twitter and based on the box score, the Raptors offense was horrendous. Losing to a Brooklyn Nets team by 15 points and only scoring 81 points is absolutely unacceptable, regardless of the circumstances. This is 2025, teams average 116.5 points a night, scoring 81 should never happen. I mean, the Chicago Bulls scored 83 in the first HALF against Atlanta last night, absolutely abysmal performance by Toronto.
Top Performers
- Nope
- No one
- Nada
I predicted the Raptors would finish this week with a 2-2 record. I was thinking that you win against Brooklyn, and take one of the three against Miami, Milwaukee, or Boston and you’re in pretty good shape.
Well, the Raptors did go 2-2, but the last two losses have been demoralizing, and the wins not overly convincing. Barrett needs to come back and we need the ‘LeBron James of Backs‘ to come and fix Poeltl.
Raptor of the Week: Brandon Ingram
With the way this week ended, there was debate amongst the Raptor of the Week voters on boycotting the vote due to the shameful loss to the Brooklyn Nets. However, since it is a weekly award and not based on one game, we did decide that Ingram is deserving for his performance this week.
This week, Ingram averaged 25.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 1.5 stocks while shooting 48.6% from the field, 53.6% from three, and 88.2% from the free throw line.
The next highest scoring Raptor this week was Scottie Barnes, who averaged 14.8 points. That difference represents a significant offensive carry-job by Ingram, who was absolutely on fire this week. I honestly can’t imagine how bad this team would look this season without him, it’s far too often that he is the sole source of offense for a team that ranks 30th over the last twelve games.
Looking Ahead
Tuesday, December 23rd – Raptors @ Heat | 7:30pm on Sportsnet
Friday, December 26th – Raptors @ Wizards | 7:00pm on Sportsnet
Sunday, December 28th – Warriors @ Raptors | 3:30pm on Sportsnet
Record Prediction: 2-1 (Gonna try and be at the Warriors game so please win that one!)
That’s it for another week of Raptors Roundup, thank you for reading! Admittedly a slightly barebones version due to my road trip but I hope you enjoyed nonetheless. Happy Holidays everyone, have a wonderful week!
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