It was never supposed to look like this. Defensive toughness is supposed to be a non-negotiable quality in Raptorland. Under head coach Nick Nurse, you either display it or you don’t play.
Alas, the lapses in Toronto’s defence have been so embarrassingly frequent and gaping that, at times, all semblance of internal standards appears to have vanished.
As veteran forward Thaddeus Young was acknowledging on Tuesday, describing the holes in Toronto’s game plan: “It’s like the Red Sea has parted sometimes.”
If it’s an organizational crisis of biblical proportions, and one that appears beyond repair without personnel reinforcements, the Raptors will tell you they haven’t stopped trying to right their nightly list of defensive wrongs.