Raptors drop heartbreaker to Wembanyama, San Antonio Spurs

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Seemingly on the way to one of their most impressive wins of the season, the Toronto Raptors instead suffered one of their rougher losses.

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The San Antonio Spurs stole one despite trailing by 12 points after three quarters, thanks to red-hot three-point shooting (6-for-12) in the fourth quarter and an early-frame Raptors collapse.

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Victor Wembanyama didn’t dazzle as much as usual, but had his moments and teammates Devin Vassell (21 points, one missed three-pointer on six attempts), De’Aaron Fox (20) and Dylan Harper (15) led a balanced attack in the 111-107 win. Brandon Ingram had 21 for Toronto, Immanuel Quickley 20,  Scottie Barnes 15, and Jakob Poeltl 15 in his best game since returning from injury.

Toronto dropped to 16-15 at home, a night after losing here to Oklahoma City, but should have beaten the NBA’s second-best team.

It was Wembanyama’s second career game at Toronto and quite a bit less shocking than his debut. He had scored 27 points, blocked a career-high 10 shots and grabbed 14 rebounds in that one. This time, he had five blocks, but only 12 points and eight rebounds, with misses on nine of 12 attempts.

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The Spurs missed three free throws in the final 16.1 seconds, and then fouled the Raptors when they needed a three-pointer to force overtime. It worked as Quickley missed the first of his free throw attempts. But a late Wembanyama free throw miss gave Toronto one more chance. Ingram was way off on a tough three-point attempt from the corner and that was that.

More thoughts on an entertaining game:

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CENTRE OF ATTENTION

Wembanyama is a unique basketball player. He stands around 7-foot-5, but can hit three-pointers at a 36% rate (roughly league average in a league that happens to be the best on the planet) and is the most menacing defender in the league. He only turned 22 in January, yet already has the Spurs near the top of the standings and had the Raptors totally out of sorts on Wednesday.

He blocked a Barnes dunk attempt at the rim, discouraged a number of other Raptor forays into the paint, and forced them into several turnovers as well.

Simply put, Wembanyama shifts the axis of the game in multiple ways. On offence, he is automatic down low, but also capable of scoring from anywhere on the floor. And on defence, he makes every offensive player less effective.

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Toronto opted to start 6-foot-7 rookie Collin Murray-Boyles and then brought in 6-foot-9 Sandro Mamukelashvili (instead of going with 7-footer Jakob Poeltl) when Murray-Boyles got into early foul trouble to try to contain Wembanyama. An interesting choice to be sure, but it worked well in the first half. The Frenchman was quiet, with Murray-Boyles seemingly frustrating him with his strength and agility. Wembanyama even shot an airball and committed two turnovers against him. Surprisingly, he didn’t score a field goal in the half, hitting four free throws and grabbing two rebounds with two blocked shots.

Wembanyama started the game 1-for-7, with Murray-Boyles and later Poeltl throwing him off.

He started making his mark later though, throwing down a big dunk, hitting a three-pointer, blocking a Barnes jump shot and roaring with delight after the three. Meanwhile, Murray-Boyles had to leave the game after aggravating the thumb issue that has been bothering him for weeks.

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REST PLOY BACKFIRES

The Raptors tried to buy some time for top players Barnes, Ingram and Quickley to start the fourth quarter, but it backfired spectacularly.

Up by 12 points after three, Darko Rajakovic needed to sit them all. Ingram had played the full third quarter, Quickley all but one minute, so it was natural to give them a breather, but Barnes played only five minutes of that quarter and simply needed to be on the floor. However, he was playing through pain (he had been questionable coming into the game) and it turns out wasn’t an option either.

“Scottie, he was really playing through the pain, so he was in constant communication with us. And he was saying, ‘If you guys don’t have to play me, try to keep the momentum,’ (with him on the bench),” Rajakovic explained post-game.

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A 7-0 Spurs run later, Barnes and Quickley were back, but the game had shifted. The Spurs had momentum and were back in the game. It was unfortunate that Barnes was banged up. Otherwise he probably would have started the quarter and maybe it wouldn’t have played out the way it did.

Rajakovic didn’t buy that the events of the early fourth quarter decided the game.

“Not necessarily. I thought that we found the momentum back there. I thought that before the fourth quarter, as I said, I think that they really made some tough shots down the stretch, some contested corner threes and us on the other side, I thought that some of the shots that you usually make that were open, they didn’t go through,” he said.

“That’s the game of basketball.”

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SANDRO IS MISSED

The Spurs are doing just fine without him, but that doesn’t mean the team wouldn’t love to still have Mamukelashvili around.

The big man spent parts of three seasons (and played more than half of his career games) with the Spurs before signing in the summer with Toronto as a free agent. Mamukelashvili found his first real NBA success arriving right after Poeltl was traded to Toronto, but before Wembanyama’s arrival, then was strong again last season after dipping during Wembanyama’s rookie year.

He since has broken out, playing like one of the best reserve big men in the league. Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson was asked pre-game if he’s surprised with what Mamukelashvili has shown and said no, adding: “We wanted Sandro to return. We thought that he was growing and there was a role,” Johnson said. “And we also understood that Toronto and Darko laid out a vision for him, and that vision has been true, and happy for him, and it’s great to see when that fit happens for people,” he said.

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Johnson, who took over for legendary Spurs coach Gregg Popovich early in the 2024-25 season and officially before this season and was also an assistant coach there, said the franchise appreciated Mamukelashvili and Poeltl (who arrived in the Kawhi Leonard trade).

“And I think when they leave your organization and you see them have success, it makes you feel good. And I think that’s, you know, the thing about this league that people don’t realize at times is the relationships don’t change, the feelings and emotions don’t change. And so we want all those guys to be successful, just hopefully (Mamukelashvili) misses a few shots tonight,” he said.

Mamukelashvili barely took any shots Wednesday and had little impact.

@WolstatSun

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