Aggressive play a double-edged sword for Toronto Raptors

Toronto Raptors guard RJ Barrett (9) dribbles past Sacramento Kings forward Keegan Murray, left, during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Sacramento, Calif., Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Randall Benton

Coming into the new season the Toronto Raptors emphasized that they were going to play hard, fast, aggressive basketball.

Nine games in, that style of play has become a double-edged sword for Toronto. Despite their 2-7 record, the Raptors lead the NBA with 30.6 assists per game and have the eighth-best offence with 118 points per game.

Toronto is also allowing a league-worst 124.7 points per game, but has lost five of its past six games by six or fewer points.

Their suffocating transition defence has an NBA-best 19.5 turnover frequency percentage, but the Raptors are third worst in the league with their offence giving up 16.8 turnovers per game.

"We've just got to continue to play hard and figure it out," swingman RJ Barrett of Mississauga, Ont., told reporters, noting that the Raptors led after three quarters in their 122-107 loss in Sacramento on Wednesday and led by as much as 15 in a 121-119 loss in Denver on Monday.

"We're doing the right things, we've just got to learn how to sustain those over the course of 48 minutes. When you have a new team, a lot of young guys, it's a learning process for all of us."

Toronto has had to lean heavily on its rookies or second-year players with all-star forward Scottie Barnes (broken orbital) and point guard Immanuel Quickley (right pelvic contusion) out. Veteran reserves Kelly Olynyk (lumbar strain) of Kamloops, B.C., and Bruce Brown (arthroscopic knee surgery) have also been unavailable.

"The guys that are playing are getting used to playing with each other and that way we can hit the ground running when we get Scottie and Quick and everyone back," sophomore swingman Gradey Dick told reporters after the loss in Denver. "(Head coach Darko Rajakovic) came in and talked about how he's not big on moral victories so I think we take that mentality that going into this with we can't just be happy that we made it close.

"But with the team that we have we need to know that we're playing good but ultimately we need to know how to finish out games."

Drilling down into the Raptors' numbers paints a complicated picture of who they are this season.

Toronto is fourth in the NBA in offensive rebounds with 13.8 per game, but is 17th in overall boards with an average of 44.2.

Perhaps most confusing is how often Toronto gets referees to blow the whistle.

The Raptors are averaging 26.2 fouls per game — second worst in the league — but are tied with the Washington Wizards for 10th most drawn at 20.8.

That second figure would make more sense if Toronto's forwards were struggling, but they're not. The Raptors are scoring 60 points in the paint per game, second most in the NBA.

A team that's doing so much around the rim — both scoring and grabbing offensive rebounds — should be able to draw more fouls, but they haven't been able to get the benefit of calls so far this season.

"It's every night we're fouling a lot," Barrett told reporters in Sacramento after Toronto had 15 free throw attempts to the Kings' 32. "We just have to try to figure that out, figure out how to play defence without fouling.

"Then on the offensive end just going to the paint strong and making the right plays."

The Raptors continue their west-coast swing with a Los Angeles back-to-back, facing the Clippers on Saturday and the Lakers on Sunday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.