MINNEAPOLIS—The Raptors offence has become unstuck. The defence remains unglued.
Despite an impressive night up and down the roster with shotmaking and scoring, another below-average defensive performance cost them a winnable game here Thursday night. And the words of Fred VanVleet from Tuesday in Milwaukee rang true.
“We’re scoring enough most of these games, but I think it’s gonna be hard to win giving up 130,” he said that night.
Truer words have seldom been spoken. Once again undone by bad fourth-quarter defence — and a stretch where they couldn’t make a field goal for almost five minutes — the Raptors dropped a 128-126 decision to the Timberwolves in a game that was theirs for the taking.