Why can’t the Raptors beat good teams?

From Samson’s piece:

“I feel awesome about it. I think that’s a great opportunity for us. I think that we as an organization have made significant strides this season and for us the next big step is that.” Coach Darko told me of the Raptors poor record vs. the best teams in the league. “Playing a high level against the best teams in the league. We’ve had games where we were very competitive, some of those games went our way some of them did not, but all of those games are just amazing for us. I’m so excited to play against the best teams in the league because I think there is always learning for us, and there is always that competitive spirit that we want to bring and we want to find a way to win those games.”

“To this point, it was all about the starters. 5:26 left in the game and the bench had provided 8 points on 13 shots. Ingram & Barnes both entered the game. Winning time, or losing time – as it were.

If the Raptors were going to win, they’d need to be juggernauts on defense (which they often are) considering their 25th ranked clutch time offense. Things didn’t start well. 2 minutes dripped off the clock and while the Knicks didn’t score the leather off the ball (5 points, 2 shots made) they had no baskets from the Raptors to contend with. Even worse, the very next possession the Knicks used knocked nearly a minute off the clock as the Raptors allowed 2 offensive rebounds and a made shot to Towns. It took the Raptors over 3 minutes to score their first bucket of clutch time and by then the Knicks had already run away with the damn thing. The Raptors are the slowest clutch team in the NBA, slowing the game to a crawl with little reward.

There was over a minute left when the Raptors’ fans started filtering hastily out of the arena. Lower bowl was nearly empty by the time the final whistle blew. Coach Darko, the team, the coaching staff hopefully learned something from this game. Fans, however, continue to learn that this offense sputters and dies when things get tough late. Even the lineups that crush early, falter late. They scored 2 points.”