![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/indicator-big.gif\")
<\/p>\n\u201cWe try to make it as hard on him as possible and physicality was a big part of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t<\/p>\n
On an individual level, the plan worked. Wembanyama was limited to 12 points but had seven rebounds and five blocks. Poeltl finished with 15 points, seven rebounds and three blocks.<\/p>\n
Toronto came up short overall, losing to San Antonio 110-107 on Wednesday, their second loss in a row. The Raptors dropped a 116-107 decision to the Oklahoma City Thunder the day before as Toronto hosted the top two teams in the NBA\u2019s Western Conference on back-to-back nights.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m satisfied, but not happy,\u201d said Rajakovic. \u201cI thought that on a back to back, playing against such a good team, we really gave them a hell of a fight over there. <\/p>\n
\u201cI thought that we did a really good job, made it really hard, on their main guys. Did as well as you can do against Wembanyama.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 22-year-old Wembanyama was the first overall pick in the NBA\u2019s 2023 draft. He was the 2024 Rookie of the Year and is a two-time all-star. He was averaging 24.2 points, 11.3 rebounds and 2.8 blocks per game heading into the game against Toronto.<\/p>\n
Poeltl appreciated Rajakovic\u2019s strategic gambit against the Spurs\u2019 dominant centre.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really don\u2019t mind either way,\u201d said Poeltl. \u201cThey wanted CMB to be really aggressive with Wemby. <\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t mind. I like playing with the bench unit. I like playing with the starters. I\u2019ll figure out a way to fit in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Toronto led the Spurs by as many as 15 points in the game and had a 12-point advantage heading into the fourth quarter. San Antonio opened the final period on a 15-2 tear to take back control of the game.<\/p>\n
Rajakovic had chosen not to put all-stars Brandon Ingram and Scottie Barnes on the floor to start the fourth.<\/p>\n
\u201cBrandon never starts the fourth quarter because he played for the entire third quarter,\u201d said Rajakovic, who noted that Barnes had aggravated a right quad contusion he\u2019d suffered on Tuesday against the Thunder. \u201c(Barnes) was really playing through the pain, so he was in constant communication with us. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe was saying, \u2018if you guys don\u2019t have to play me, try to keep the momentum.\u2019 So we had that technical communication.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ingram had a double-double with 20 points and a season-high 11 rebounds. Barnes scored 15.<\/p>\n
It was the fifth time this season Toronto had lost after holding a double-digit lead, the most in the NBA. <\/p>\n
The loss dropped the Raptors to 4-15 against the league\u2019s top 10 teams with three of those wins against the Cleveland Cavaliers before they acquired 11-time all-star James Harden in a trade with the Los Angeles Clippers on Feb. 4.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think this is good for us, especially me,\u201d said Toronto point guard Immanuel Quickley. \u201cI feel like just the last couple games I have gone against some really good defenders. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is good for me and for the rest of our team, just being able to get a taste of that experience of teams that are being really physical, especially the good teams.\u201d<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 26, 2026.<\/p>\n
John Chidley-Hill, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWe try to make it as hard on him as possible and physicality was a big part of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":500719,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194291],"tags":[879,49,48,2467,2461,2468,2460,2462,2463,44,2464,2465,2466,82,3302],"class_list":{"0":"post-500718","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-toronto","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-central-vancouver-island","12":"tag-nanaimo","13":"tag-nanaimo-breaking-news","14":"tag-nanaimo-news","15":"tag-nanaimo-news-now","16":"tag-nanaimonewsnow","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-oceanside","19":"tag-parksville","20":"tag-qualicum","21":"tag-sports","22":"tag-toronto"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500718","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=500718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/500719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=500718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=500718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=500718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}