If your opponent \u2014 those same injury-decimated Nuggets \u2014 lose the only remaining centre they have on their roster, former Raptor Jonas Valanciunas, to injury late in the third quarter, you should probably win the game.<\/p>\n
The Toronto Raptors<\/a> did not win the game. Happy New Year, sure, but not really.<\/p>\n How they could not win the game given the circumstances is a reasonable question.<\/p>\n Denver arrived for its New Year\u2019s Eve matchup with Toronto not only missing leading MVP candidate Nikola Jokic, who suffered a scary-looking hyper-extended knee incident<\/a> on Monday in Miami and will be out of action for at least four weeks, but also Christian Braun (ankle), Cameron Johnson (knee) and Aaron Gordon (hamstring).<\/p>\n And then Valanciunas, the well-loved former Raptor who was rolling along with 17 points, nine rebounds and four assists 23 minutes into his first start of the season on Wednesday, had to leave the game after straining a muscle in his right calf.<\/p>\n But somehow the Raptors couldn\u2019t take advantage, falling 106-103 to the ghost Nuggets.<\/p>\n And this was with Scottie Barnes<\/a> putting up his second triple double in two games (20 points, 14 rebounds, 11 assists), leading scorer Brandon Ingram<\/a> notching a game-high 30 points and RJ Barrett looking very much more himself in his second game back from his own injury, managing 17 points despite his playing time being restricted to 25 minutes as he builds up his conditioning. Oh, and Immanuel Quickley squeezed out 22 points and added five assists without a turnover.<\/p>\n But core players can only be on the floor so long, and as the Raptors were presented a golden opportunity to keep momentum going with a third straight home win on a crucial five-game homestand, their bench unit, which has been a bright spot lately, fumbled it.<\/p>\n Collectively, they shot 6-of-34 from the floor and 0-18 from three.<\/p>\n Other than that, the Raptors were fine.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were 0-of-18 from the three-point line,\u201d head coach Darko Rajakovic said of his bench\u2019s performance, one game removed from a season-high 50 points in a win over Orlando. \u201cI thought all of those shots were good shots. The ball did not fall tonight for us.\u201d<\/p>\n There was a brief glimmer of hope that the 19,181 who elected to say farewell to 2025 by hanging out at Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday would go off into the frigid night happy. <\/p>\n After former Raptor Bruce Brown missed two free throws with 2.7 seconds left that would have iced the win for Denver, a Barnes rebound and pinpoint outlet pass to Ingram running a “go” route to the left-hand sideline resulted in an off-balance banked-in three that would have forced overtime.<\/p>\n But upon review, the ball was still on the tip of Ingram\u2019s long fingers when the clock ran out, and the basket didn\u2019t count.<\/p>\n \u201cMaybe I need to cut my fingernails,\u201d Ingram said. \u201cWe haven\u2019t worked on that moment in practice or anything, but (Barnes and I) had a connection before (the play), while the free throw was going on. He got the rebound, and I knew the spot I wanted to run to, and he delivered a good pass.\u201d<\/p>\n That the shot was a fraction of a second too late meant the Raptors’ modest winning streak was stemmed at two games as their record fell to 20-15, which \u2014 on the bright side \u2014 still means Toronto will ring in 2026 as the fourth-seed in the Eastern Conference.<\/p>\n The win improved Denver’s record to 23-10, with every win the Nuggets can scrape together essential as they try to maintain their hold on third place in the Western Conference \u2014 or at least somewhere in the top-six \u2014 while Jokic and the rest of their starters are out.<\/p>\n \u201cWe did enough, just enough,\u201d said Jamal Murray, who got to play close to his Kitchener, Ont. home on New Year\u2019s Eve.<\/p>\n Murray was the subject of relentless defensive attention for most of the night as the Raptors were determined to limit the opportunities for the Nuggets’ lone remaining starter and second-leading scorer. Murray finished with 21 points on 6-of-18 shooting (2-of-5 from three) along with seven rebounds and six assists.<\/p>\n He scored the Nuggets’ final field goal when Raptors guard Jamal Shead (2 points on 1-of-8 shooting with five assists) got caught trying to deny Murray the pass and instead was left behind when Brown lobbed the ball over Shead\u2019s head, leading Murray for a lay-up with 13.7 seconds left.<\/p>\n Barrett got a decent look at a game-tying three with 5.1 seconds left, but the ball hit the back rim and came out before Brown missed his two free throws and Ingram\u2019s miracle shot was just a hair late.<\/p>\n But the game was arguably lost well before that when, for the third straight game, the Raptors fell behind by double figures in the first quarter \u2014 in this case down by as many as 11 in the opening frame.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think we were aggressive in the first half,\u201d said Ingram. \u201cThat\u2019s been kind of the trend that we\u2019ve been having to be the aggressor in the second half. The starters, including myself, got to be better coming out in games, but we battled back.\u201d<\/p>\n The Raptors trailed 63-54 at the half but tied the score early in the third quarter after seemingly getting a bit of punch from the addition of Collin Murray-Boyles to the second-half starting lineup in place of Ochai Agbaji. Quickley and Ingram hit a pair of threes, and Barrett converted a three-point play, but Toronto could never open a meaningful gap on Denver and trailed by eight early in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n The Raptors had come back from double-digit deficits in their previous two games, but couldn\u2019t manage another comeback in the space of five days.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was impressive that we could find a way to compete (despite the bench performance),\u201d said Rajakovic. \u201cBut definitely shooting was not on our side tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n It was a game they could have won and should have, and it wasn\u2019t the way they wanted to end 2025. Hopefully, it won\u2019t prove to be a tone setter for 2026.<\/p>\n The Toronto Raptors look to stay undefeated in Summer League action as they take on the Golden State Warriors on July 17. Watch the matchup on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+ starting at 10 p.m. ET \/ 7 p.m. PT.<\/p>\n![\"Raptors](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Shead-640x360.jpg\")
Raptors Summer League on Sportsnet<\/p>\n