Toronto Raptors' losing skid extends to 6 games - Fred VanVleet, Nick Nurse blame poor defense
The free fall of the Toronto Raptors continued on Monday night, following the 101-104 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers at Wells Fargo Center.
Pascal Siakam missed a three-pointer on Toronto's final overtime possession and the Raptors have now lost six straight, falling to 13-17 in the Eastern Conference standings.
The Raptors have now lost a season-high six in a row and 9 of their last 11, as they shot just 42% from the field and 11/40 from beyond the arc.
''This is a terrible stretch,'' Fred VanVleet said after Sunday's blowout home defeat to the Golden State Warriors (126-110). ''You don't want this, you don't expect this and you can't accept this.''
The All-Star guard believes defense has been one of the issues during this skid, especially during the Sunday game.
“Our defence was not very good, and they were getting whatever they wanted,” VanVleet said on Sunday.
Toronto head coach Nick Nurse echoed VanVleet's thoughts on the team's defensive performance.
"That’s the first time at home we have come out with one of those defensive performances where we just couldn’t really keep up with them, or find them, or protect the rim, or guard," Nurse noted after the home game vs Golden State.
"We certainly had a hard time tonight. It wasn't very good. There (weren't) a whole lot of positives to take out of the defensive side especially. We were just chasing them all night. We've got to dig in," Nurse said. The Warriors shot 53.1% from the field, including 18 of 39 from beyond the arc.
The Raptors are now one defeat away from tying their seven-game losing skid on which they ended their 2020/21 season.
This is also the third losing streak in five or more games that the franchise has experienced since Nick Nurse took over in 2017. The other two took place during the 2020/21 season.
However, both Nurse and VanVleet remain optimistic that the franchise will eventually find a way to turn things around and get back on track.
Toronto holds the final play-in tournament spot, just one game ahead of the Chicago Bulls (11-18).
"There’s good stretches and bad stretches throughout the course of the season. We’re in a bad stretch that needs to stop immediately," Nick Nurse said. "And we’ll try to find ways to do that. All it takes is one win to get the vibes back. Losing, it sucks. It’s hard to deal with when you’re expecting to win. So we’re in it right now.”
“We looked like this for long stretches last year as well,” he said. “There were ups and downs at the beginning of last year, looked a little bleak at times, and we got hot late in the year," Fred VanVleet noted.
The Raptors will look to get back on track and snap their losing streak on Wednesday when they visit Madison Square Garden to take on the red-hot New York Knicks, who are on a seven-game winning streak.
