Raptors waste good performances, blow game against Clippers

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No Kawhi Leonard, no problem for the Los Angeles Clippers. At least for one night.

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Missing its top player, the former Raptors superstar, the visitors dug deep to pull out a 121-117 overtime win on Friday night. It helps having another living legend like James Harden when one is missing, and the former NBA MVP dominated the latter stages of the game. Harden outscored Toronto 12-0 from late in the fourth and well into overtime, turning the tide, even though he missed a potential regulation winner thanks to excellent defending by Jamal Shead, who was outstanding.

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Scottie Barnes tried to put his team on his back deep in overtime and nearly succeeded, but Harden had an answer again, drilling a step-back before Brandon Ingram took a bad three-point attempt that was nowhere close.

Toronto also could have iced the game in regulation, but underrated Clippers defender Kris Dunn put the clamps on Ingram, who had torched them early. The Raptors tried to get offence from elsewhere and failed repeatedly. They did escape a regulation loss when Shead played great defence in forcing Harden into an isolation miss at the buzzer.

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Toronto didn’t score from 3:35 left in the fourth quarter until 3:21 remained in overtime, missing nine straight shots in that span.

Harden went on a 12-0 run until Barnes scored. He finished with 31, along with 10 assists.

Leonard joined fellow all-world players Nikola Jokic and Luka Doncic in missing the lone Toronto visit of the season.

He played Wednesday and dominated against Washington after being a game-time decision, but started L.A.’s road trip on the sidelines.

Toronto was without starters Jakob Poeltl, Immanuel Quickley and R.J. Barrett, plus Ja’Kobe Walter and Jamison Battle, though Sandro Mamukelashvili returned.

The Raptors led after the first, second and third quarters and should have won but at least can wrest some positives from the night. Some takeaways from a tough night for the Raptors:

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Youngsters steal show

Facing the oldest team in NBA history (at least when inactive guard Chris Paul was included before the year), two of the youngest Raptors shined brightly.

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Collin Murray-Boyles, the youngest at 20, and Shead, mature for his age, but still just 23, was arguably the best player on the court for Toronto.

Shead had a career-high 13 assists, drew offensive fouls with his dogged play, including a crucial one on Harden late and also was strong defensively.

Murray-Boyles had a quiet offensive night and didn’t dominate the glass as he has in recent weeks (though he did grab an emphatic rebound in the fourth quarter that really stood out and later threw done a one-handed power jam), but he still showcased his massive skillset and basketball IQ on several occasions. There were two monster blocked shots, an unreal pass and some impressive multi-position defending. Not many rookies can do those things.

Once Murray-Boyles gets used to NBA nutrition and perhaps even grows some more, he’ll be a force of nature, not unlike his teammate Barnes who is bigger and stronger than most of his opponents.

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Making the Grade-y

Gradey Dick’s best game since opening night made him a topic of conversation Friday afternoon.

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Dick had scored 21, matching his season high against Atlanta back in October and added 11 rebounds for his first career double-double in a win over Indiana.

It’s been a rough season, to say the least, for the third-year wing, as he’s been perhaps Toronto’s biggest disappointment so far. He had shot 2-for-10 for six total points over his previous two games.

Dick has played well in past years when elevated to a bigger role due to injuries and again took advantage of his chance against the Pacers.

Not every star prospect, as Dick was while at Kansas, can adjust to no longer being “the man,” and it’s something Rajakovic discussed pre-game.

“I really think it really comes down to embracing the role, embracing how you can affect the game. But at the same time, with that being said, it’s not easy,” Rajakovic said. “All of those guys that you see in NBA, all of those guys, they were the best player in their elementary school, their high school, one of the best players in college and they come to NBA (and) it doesn’t matter who the player is, first day when you show up in a training camp, you’re not the best player on that NBA team as a rookie or a young player,” he said.

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“And then you’ve got to have a certain dose of humility to accept that, ‘OK, I came here working really hard, being patient and all of that, now I gotta do it again.’ Now it’s everything starts from scratch.”

Toronto’s head coach wants to see young players like Dick play freely and not press too much knowing that they probably will only play limited minutes.

“Focus on things that they can control, to run to the right spots on the court, to rebound every time … to hold it on defensive end.

“But you have to go through this. It’s not one magic conversation. It’s not like one game (changes) everything. It’s just part of the process … We cannot have highs and lows, we gotta look at this as a process. We cannot just go one game, everything is good, now I’m the best in the world, next game, I don’t make shots, I don’t play well. I’m the worst. We gotta find the common ground. We have to look [for] the bigger picture night in and night out.”

Dick tested Rajakovic’s theory on Friday early. He was much quieter against the Clippers, scoring just two points in the first half, but played great in the third with eight points and his second solid hustle play of the game. Dick stood out again in the fourth with five more points, another hustle play and also tied his season-high with three made three-pointers. His energy and effort helped spark the Raptors.

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