The Toronto Raptors aim to cut their losses at five in a row Monday night against the visiting Golden State Warriors.
The Raptors, who have lost 16 of their past 17 games, are coming off a 123-114 road loss to the Detroit Pistons on Saturday night.
The game was within reach when it was tied at 109-109 with 5:04 remaining.
“We always say that this league is a make-or-miss league, and tonight they made more shots than us and that was the main difference,” Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic said. “I thought that we were getting good looks, we missed some wide-open shots and, on the other side, they were able to make some shots that I thought were pretty contested.”
Detroit shot 52.4 percent from the field, including 57.6 percent (19-for-33) on 3-point attempts. Toronto shot 43.5 percent, including 42.1 percent (16-for-38) from 3-point range.
The Raptors also had problems with free throws –18-for-27 (66.7 percent). Detroit was 16-for-21 (76.2 percent) in foul shots.
The Warriors are coming off a 108-96 road loss to the Indiana Pacers on Friday night. Golden State was without several key players, including Stephen Curry, who rested his knee on the second game of a back-to-back.
“Short-handed, back-to-back, guys did a great job of hanging in there,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “We just needed to have a little stretch, make three or four 3s in a row to get over the hump. I think it was 86-81, we’re right there. But they took care of business, knocked down some shots.”
Pat Spencer scored a career-best 17 points off the bench. Buddy Hield also scored 17 for the Warriors, who have lost three of their past four games.
“We were short-handed, I had to be aggressive,” Spencer said. “I feel like I’m one of the guys on the team who has the ability to get into the paint and make reads for other guys. Tonight, they forced me to score a little more, stayed home on the other guys.”
Draymond Green (back), Andrew Wiggins (personal), Jonathan Kuminga (ankle), Brandin Podziemski (abdominal) and Gary Payton II (calf) also were held out Friday. Green is considered questionable for Monday, while Kuminga, Podziemski and Payton were ruled out.
In Detroit, the Raptors were led by Immanuel Quickley’s 25 points. Scottie Barnes added 16 points and 12 rebounds.
Chris Boucher and Bruce Brown each scored 14 points off the bench and Jamal Shead added 10 points and five assists.
“Chris Boucher was great for us again, and I thought that Bruce Brown gave us some really high-quality minutes,” Rajakovic said. “Jamal played great. Those guys really get us going and I think they did a good job in the second half as well.”
Rajakovic likes what he is seeing from Shead, who was a plus-17 in 16:51 on the court. Shead was a second-round pick after starring college for Houston.
“I’m really satisfied with his development this year,” he said. “Like any other rookie there’s going to be ups and downs, but I like what he’s showing us the last couple of games.”
The game against the Warriors will be the first of two in a row at home for the Raptors, who completed a three-game road trip in Detroit.
The Warriors have split the first two of a four-game trip. The win was against Detroit, 107-104 on Thursday.
This will be the first meeting between the Warriors and Raptors this season. They split two games last season.
–Field Level Media
