Raptors stifled by Clippers defense in blowout loss

The Toronto Raptors traveled to Intuit Dome to face off against the Los Angeles Clippers on the road, and they were simply outclassed. The Clippers are not a formidable defensive team on paper, sitting at 18th in the league in overall defense, but their game plan last night was executed well, and it really had Toronto struggling to get consistent looks. The Clippers collapsing in the paint and clogging in the mid-range area combined with Toronto not being able to convert on the majority of their three-point looks led to Toronto never being in this game. They were down big early, and the Clippers continued to pour it on for the rest of the night.

Toronto is known to struggle on the offensive end, and the Clippers used their lack of shooting to their detriment. LA left Brook Lopez in drop coverage, and they had the next man help on any Toronto drive, whether it was in isolation or pick n’ roll and this was how they were able to clog the lane and mid-range area. The Clippers did not fear what Toronto’s shooters would do if given the space to shoot, and felt comfortable with late closeouts if it meant they could help on each drive. 

This defensive scheme worked very well on Scottie Barnes, who never got great looks, outside of transition. He could not settle into mid-range jumpers comfortably because of all the help that was sent, so he was forced to be more of a playmaker. But when he did try to force the issue and put the ball in the basket, he was met with several bodies, and this clearly hampered him as a scorer last night. Barnes would be backing down his defender in the mid-range area, and as he’s going into his fadeaway there would be another defender there. Barnes finished with 9 points on 4-11 shooting, and although he had 10 assists, Toronto really needed him to score to have a shot in this game.

RJ Barrett was also a victim of this defensive scheme. LA helped off of him consistently, not fearing what he would do as a shooter, and Barrett played right into their hands. He was 0-7 from three, with plenty of these looks being pretty open. Outside of a quick flurry in the second quarter in which he found some daylight at the rim, Barrett was shut down in this game. He finished with 12 points on 5-19 shooting.

Los Angeles’ three-headed monster of Kawhi Leonard, Darius Garland, and Benedict Mathurin had their way with Toronto last night, finishing with 27 points, 24 points, and 23 points respectively. Leonard hit tough shot after tough shot, over various defenders, and even when defenders such as Collin Murray-Boyles or Barnes would get a great contest, he would still find a way to sink the shot. He consistently penetrated Toronto’s defense, and put in short mid-range shots, or found his way to the free throw line. 

Garland made Raptors defenders look foolish repeatedly, using his extremely tight handle and shiftiness to get them off balance, and fire up moon ball pull-up jumpers that swished through the net. He was really hot from behind the arc last night, firing from all sorts of ranges, and Toronto was utterly powerless to stop him. He had some nice rim attempts where he would flip a layup off the glass with English, after sliding by a defender.

This game really highlighted how limited Brandon Ingram’s playmaking is. Ingram is a scorefirst player, who has shown that he does not handle multiple defenders well, so when the Clippers were shading him or sending digs on his drives, he simply did not make the proper reads. Instead of swinging the ball early, in an effort to try and get the Clippers in rotation, he stubbornly tried to force the issue and get his looks anyway. When he did pass the ball it was in set actions, or after he was forced to pick up his dribble, and that just was not enough for someone who has the ball so much.

With the combination of the Clippers scoring, and Toronto succumbing to their defensive scheme, the Clippers amassed a 14 point lead at halftime, which they were never in danger of giving up. Some nights in the NBA just don’t go well, and last night was one of those nights for the Toronto Raptors.