{"id":371301,"date":"2025-12-27T03:35:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-27T03:35:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/371301\/"},"modified":"2025-12-27T03:35:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-27T03:35:07","slug":"raptors-takeaways-shaky-loss-to-wizards-highlights-sobering-stretch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/371301\/","title":{"rendered":"Raptors Takeaways: Shaky loss to Wizards highlights sobering stretch"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Toronto Raptors<\/a> are at risk of ending 2025 the same way they started it.<\/p>\n

Friday\u2019s 138-117 loss to the Washington Wizards looked all too similar to the games that defined January through April, where the Raptors battled teams at the bottom of the standings without a few key players each night. While the answer in 2024-25 was that a shorthanded Raptors team wasn\u2019t bad enough to out-race truly bad teams to the bottom, the answer of late is that the 2025-26 Raptors are not good enough to assume victory against those same dregs, especially when down a few bodies.<\/p>\n

The key difference, of course, is that the Raptors want to be winning this year. RJ Barrett<\/a> and Jakob Poeltl<\/a> are legitimately injured, and the hope entering the year was that there was enough depth \u2013 new additions, young players who got expanded developmental opportunity last season, a healthy Brandon Ingram \u2013 to withstand the lighter parts of the schedule at less than 100 per cent. A projection of, say, 44 wins for the team (hello) included a belief they\u2019d be deep, tough, and effortful enough to win games like Friday\u2019s.<\/p>\n

The Raptors aren\u2019t there yet.<\/p>\n

Sure, it\u2019s the NBA, and anyone can beat anyone on a given night, but the Wizards loss caps what\u2019s been a sobering month in which they\u2019re 4-9 with a bottom-10 net rating and the league\u2019s worst offence. The defence on Friday looked even shakier, as a young (and in some spots, old!) Wizards team won the hustle battle often and found a higher gear scrambling and helping defensively on key possessions. Once a hole was dug, the league\u2019s worst fourth-quarter offence over the last few weeks simply couldn\u2019t climb back out.<\/p>\n

Things don\u2019t get easier from here. A five-game homestand begins Sunday, with the Warriors, Magic, Nuggets, and Hawks (twice) in town. That\u2019s a really fun stretch if you were gifted tickets at the holidays; it\u2019s less fun a stretch if you\u2019re a team trying to straighten the car during an icy skid.<\/p>\n

Of course, if you\u2019re getting 20-pieced by the Wizards, there\u2019s no such thing as a soft spot on the schedule right now.<\/p>\n

Here are some other notes and observations from the game.<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0Collin Murray-Boyles missed the game due to an illness. He was originally questionable, then listed as available, then a late scratch after all.<\/p>\n

Scottie Barnes was also questionable with an illness, ultimately playing through it, then leaving briefly with left hip soreness before returning. Tough day.<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0On the bright side, Barrett participated in a full-contact playgroup on Thursday, the latest step in his return from a knee sprain. Head coach Darko Rajakovi\u0107 said Barrett is progressing \u201creally well,\u201d and he\u2019ll be considered day-to-day from here. Sidelined since Nov. 23 \u2013 a span of 15 games now, which included a PRP injection for his knee \u2013 Barrett\u2019s importance, especially on offence, has never been more obvious.<\/p>\n

There was no update on Poeltl, who is now listed as having a lower back strain, rather than the \u201cinjury management\u201d designation he\u2019d carried on and off for most of the season.<\/p>\n

The Raptors have been cautious with recovering players in back-to-back situations, so it\u2019s worth noting that they\u2019ll play Sunday, Monday, and Wednesday at home (with a mandated off-day Tuesday) before there\u2019s another full practice day to ramp back up.<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0Over the course of 82 games, you can often find small silver linings if a top player misses time. That creates opportunities for others, and you can learn more about depth pieces in larger roles, prod for weak spots in the rotation ahead of the trade deadline, and keep everyone engaged.<\/p>\n

You hope, though, that someone pops in those expanded minutes, and that\u2019s been a real mixed bag for Toronto.<\/p>\n

At the high end, Sandro Mamukelashvili<\/a> has proven himself one of the best low-cost free agent signings of this or any Raptors era. A great story<\/a> as a depth piece, Mamukelashvili has regularly made the most of extra minutes in Poeltl\u2019s absence. In the first half Friday, he came up with momentum-swinging plays a hand full of times, hitting late-clock threes, coming up with offensive rebounds, or running back for blocks in transition. His 13-point, 11-rebound double-double was his first of the season, but through no fault of his own, a rotation where Mamukelasvhili is the truest \u201cbig\u201d is going to struggle.<\/p>\n

Jonathan Mogbo got an opportunity with Poeltl and Murray-Boyles down. Coming off of a strong stretch of play with Raptors 905, there was room for optimism the sophomore could provide a spark. That slipped away quickly, like a couple of passes through his hands on dump-offs. He nearly finished with an 11-trillion, tallying just one steal on the box score in 11 minutes.<\/p>\n

At the two-guard spot, Ja\u2019Kobe Walter had a really nice and versatile scoring night (15 points on 5-of-7 shooting) but wasn\u2019t at his sharpest defensively. Gradey Dick, meanwhile, continues to shoot poorly, and while he\u2019s shown juice elsewhere \u2013 he had three pretty assists and could have had a fourth \u2013 his secondary skills just won\u2019t matter at this level if he can\u2019t knock down threes reliably.<\/p>\n

Individually, you can understand the ups and downs for the group of young players, one that still includes Jamal Shead (minus-27 in 19 minutes) and Jamison Battle (0-for-3). As a collective, it hasn\u2019t been enough to sustain them. With two starters playing a combined 245 minutes over the last month, you\u2019d hope the decision of \u201cwho loses minutes when X and Y return\u201d wasn\u2019t as easy as it feels right now.<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0The absences also really drive home a truth about this offence: Even with a lot of individual talent, there\u2019s very little threat on the rim. The Raptors rank second in the league in assists that lead to a bucket at the rim (awesome!) but have the lowest rate of unassisted rim scoring by a notable margin. Brandon Ingram\u2019s mid-range, Immanuel Quickley\u2019s shooting, Barnes\u2019 ability to go coast-to-coast for bully lefty dunks or high-low passing against a zone, it\u2019s all good stuff, but Barrett is often their best path to the paint or the free-throw line.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s particularly notable with transition lineups, as Rajakovi\u0107 can\u2019t strategically stagger as many anchor starters right now. Bench-heavy units are really struggling to create advantages, and a lot of the team\u2019s depth pieces have fairly narrow offensive roles or comfort zones. So Barrett\u2019s absence isn\u2019t just that Barrett is good, it\u2019s that the areas he helps the team aren\u2019t replicated elsewhere on the roster.<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0AJ Lawson was with the NBA club for additional depth, after a difficult travel day due to weather that saw him arrive with enough time for only a quick pregame warmup. He got the call in the fourth quarter and helped force an eight-second violation while the game was still close<\/p>\n

The Raptors have been conservative with using their allotted days for two-way players despite Lawson, Chucky Hepburn, and Alijah Martin all having strong starts to their G League seasons. Because the Raptors are only carrying 14 NBA contracts, the number of games they can have two-way players active is capped at 90, total, right now, rather than 50 per player. That could change after the Feb. 5 trade deadline, which could see the final roster spot filled or a two-way converted, depending on how trade season shakes out.<\/p>\n

(I believe Lawson is at seven games, Hepburn at four, and Martin at three. This is just my tracking, as they\u2019re not officially listed anywhere.)<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0Raptors 905 get back in action Saturday in Mississauga. If you missed it, they finished the \u201cTip Off Tournament\u201d portion of their schedule a perfect 14-0, then won two G League Showcase games before finally losing in the Showcase Cup final. Like the NBA Cup, the championship game actually doesn\u2019t count toward stats or the standings, so then 905 are technically still undefeated, though the standings reset after 14 games, so they\u2019re now 2-0 once again. (Yes, it\u2019s a little odd. Yes, we\u2019ll take the technicality to keep getting \u201cundefeated\u201d tweets off.)<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0Kyshawn George gave Canada Basketball fans something to be happy with out of the loss, as he scored 23 points on 9-of-13 shooting, adding six rebounds and three assists. He\u2019s having an excellent sophomore season that should have him on some ballots for Most Improved Player.<\/p>\n

And my fellow native of The Region, Will Riley, has been playing more minutes of late, including 16 minutes with eight points and a pair of assists here.<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0At the other end of the age spectrum, CJ McCollum and Khris Middleton had solid games, with McCollum in particularly keying a big second-quarter run. While it\u2019s not as easy to move $30-million expiring contracts for non-stars in the apron era of the CBA, they should be interesting for non-apron contenders if they wind up in the buyout market post-deadline.<\/p>\n

Marvin Bagley should also command some interest as a minimum-salaried bench big.<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0It was frustrating to see the Wizards get away with a very young, all-bench lineup at once point in this game. Only Brooklyn has played with zero starters more often, as that can either be the staple of a rebuilding team (lineup optimization isn\u2019t as important) or a very deep team (Bench Mob Raptors). Against Washington, it\u00a0should\u00a0be when a team like the Raptors makes a strong push.<\/p>\n

Speaking of depth and balance: The Wizards\u2019 first five baskets of the game were scored by five different players. Sharing rocks.<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0I hope you all had a Merry Christmas, if you celebrate, and some good holiday time either way. The Raptors Show returns on Monday, by the way, so lock back in.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Toronto Raptors are at risk of ending 2025 the same way they started it. Friday\u2019s 138-117 loss…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":371302,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-371301","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=371301"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371301\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/371302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=371301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=371301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=371301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}