ORLANDO, Fla. – Toronto Raptors forward Brandon Ingram should feel good about his individual performance despite the team’s 130-120 loss to the Orlando Magic.
Ingram scored a game-high 35 points on an efficient 13 of 23 from the field. After the game, Ingram explained why he was able to play well against the Magic.
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“It was just in rhythm. Shots were falling. I was able to just shoot from over the top and had success with that,” Ingram said.
Toronto Raptors forward Brandon Ingram is guarded by Orlando Magic guard Anthony Black. | Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images
Ingram Shines, But Raptors Struggle
The Raptors allow their defense to help create their offense, and that was apparent at times in the game against the Magic. Unfortunately, the Raptors were not able to put together 48 minutes worth of a win.
“We have a lot of guys that can score the basketball in transition and in the half court. We have some bigs that can stretch the floor, shoot the basketball. We pretty much know what we can get on the offensive end. Our defense has been our anchor most of the season. It wasn’t there in that fourth quarter tonight. What we can learn is just having a better start to games and playing the full 48 minutes,” Ingram said.
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The Raptors have prided themselves in having one of the best benches in the league, however, the team struggled, scoring just 25 points off the bench in the loss. Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic spoke about the lack of bench production leading to the loss against the Magic.
“We have our bench for the big part of the season,” Rajakovic said.
“They’re doing a really good job. And they are our true, true power. You know, those guys coming in a lot of times, guys on the bench coming and bringing energy and taking us to another level. And thanks to our second unit, we won a lot of games this year thanks to them. But we lack that tonight outside of Ja’Kobe (Walter); we did not get that usual support. Not just offensively, but on the defensive end there as well.”
While the loss is unfortunate for the Raptors, it isn’t one that requires the sky to fall along with it. The team is still in good position in fourth place in the Eastern Conference standings, and there’s reason to believe these poor performances won’t create some bad habits moving forward.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/nba/raptors/onsi as Brandon Ingram Didn’t Get Support in Raptors Loss vs. Magic.