Toronto’s leading scorer doesn’t have a clear answer why his team has been elite on the road, but iffy at Scotiabank Arena.
Things started well enough Wednesday, with the Raptors jumping on the visiting New York Knicks early and leading by as many as 12 points in the opening half. But a complete collapse to end the third quarter and start the fourth led to a disheartening 119-92 defeat.
It dropped the Raptors to just 13-10 at home, compared to an Eastern Conference-best 16-9 record on the road, including a recent 4-1 West Coast trip.
“I don’t know. I guess we get excited when we go on the road,” Brandon Ingram said post-game when asked by Postmedia.
Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic wasn’t dwelling on the strange development much either.
“I mean, every game is a story for itself, right? Obviously, we always want to win the game when we play at home and playing at home means a lot for us, but we gotta flush this one, focus on the next one and get a win on the road (in Orlando on Friday),” Rajakovic said.
Added Ingram: “We’ll figure it out.”
They’ll get an extended chance to try to do just that after the pit stop in Orlando. Following that game, Toronto will play five straight at home heading into the NBA’s all-star break.
Who’s next on the Raptors schedule?
Utah is here Sunday, followed by Minnesota on Wednesday, Chicago the next night — which happens to be the NBA’s trade deadline — Indiana a week from Sunday and then the conference-leading Detroit Pistons on Feb. 11.
It won’t be an easy stretch by any means, but will be a fine time for the Raptors to start protecting their home court a lot better.
Since starting 8-2 at home, winning eight straight after dropping the first two in Toronto of the season, the Raptors have gone just 5-9.
Even last season, when they won only 30 times anywhere, they nearly went .500 (18-23) at home vs. 12-29 away. As recently as 2022-23 they went 27-14 at home and 14-27 on the road, finishing an even .500.
The team’s shooting, scoring and rebounding numbers nearly are identical on the road compared to home, just slightly higher, but not enough to fully explain the different results.
Ingram actually has been statistically superior at home (23.6 points on 49.6% shooting vs. 19.8 on 44.1% shooting) while Scottie Barnes has been consistently good wherever he has played.
The most interesting home/road splits belong to Immanuel Quickley, Sandro Mamukelashvili and RJ Barrett.
Quickley has shot 40.1% at home and 34.2% from three, but 47.2% and 39.2% on the road, while Barrett’s free-throw mark on similar attempts per game is 60.7% at Scotiabank Arena, 79.6% everywhere else.
Mamukelashvili, a key reserve and sometime fill-in starter, has shot 56.3%, including a solid 42.4% on three-point attempts on the road, just 31.6% on three-pointers and 48.9% overall at home.
Puzzling indeed.
@WolstatSun