{"id":640118,"date":"2026-03-05T03:20:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T03:20:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/640118\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T03:20:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T03:20:18","slug":"raptors-continue-to-struggle-against-nbas-top-10-teams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/640118\/","title":{"rendered":"Raptors continue to struggle against NBA\u2019s top 10 teams"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Toronto Raptors’ forward Brandon Ingram (3) drives past New York Knicks’ forward OG Anunoby (8) during their game in Toronto on Tuesday.Nathan Denette\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Every time the Toronto Raptors suffer another loss to a top-10 team, they talk about lessons and process and patience.<\/p>\n

But Brandon Ingram also can\u2019t deny that it\u2019s annoying.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you fall short, you always get frustrated, especially in the moment,\u201d said Ingram after putting up 31 points in Toronto\u2019s 111-95 loss to the New York Knicks on Tuesday. \u201cBut frustration isn\u2019t always bad, you know? There\u2019s something to learn in every single game.<\/p>\n

\u201cTonight was having some lapses on defence and trying to figure out our fourth-quarter execution. But every game that we go to, we get better, and we\u2019re learning, trying to learn how to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

They have been hard \u2013 and frequent \u2013 lessons.<\/p>\n

The Raptors (35-26), fifth in the Eastern Conference, dropped to 4-16 against the 10 teams that are ahead of them in the NBA\u2019s standings. Toronto is 1-12 at Scotiabank Arena against opponents with better records and has lost 14 of its last 15 games against top-10 teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to figure out our fourth-quarter execution, exactly what we want to go to,\u201d said Ingram. \u201cI think every time we play a good team, they know exactly what they want to go to in the fourth quarter, and they do it over again and over again.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe good thing is we\u2019re in the games, but we\u2019ve got to figure out how to finish the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Raptors guard Immanuel Quickley scored an eight-foot running pull-up shot with 5:50 left to play and cut New York\u2019s lead to 95-93. The Knicks responded with a 16-2 run to close out the game for a decisive victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had our chances. We had our opportunities,\u201d said Toronto head coach Darko Rajakovic. \u201cThis is a really good team, a really good offensive rebounding team. We kept them to seven rebounds. A lot of positive stuff.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re just going to get back to work and continue getting better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jalen Brunson finished with 26 points and 10 assists as New York (40-22) won its third consecutive game. Karl-Anthony Towns added 21 points with 13 rebounds.<\/p>\n

Quickley had a double-double with 13 points and 12 assists for the Raptors and RJ Barrett of Mississauga, Ont., scored 20, with nine points in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe couldn\u2019t really get our offence going the way we wanted to in the last couple minutes,\u201d said starting centre Jakob Poeltl. \u201cIt\u2019s another learning experience for us to be better in those situations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re a team that has playoff experience and stuff like that. They\u2019re used to these kind of situations, and I feel like we\u2019re getting there, but we\u2019re obviously not on that level yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rookie centre Collin Murray-Boyles, who has earned 22 starts with the Raptors this season, sat out with a left thumb sprain. Rajakovic said his presence was missed throughout the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis ability to rebound the ball, his ability to run in transition and provide us an outlet on the baseline,\u201d said Rajakovic. \u201cHe\u2019s setting really good screens, good roller.<\/p>\n

\u201cDefensively, he\u2019s a guy who can pick up on any matchup and does a really good job of that. He was missed [on Tuesday], big time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Toronto Raptors’ forward Brandon Ingram (3) drives past New York Knicks’ forward OG…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":640119,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3770],"tags":[10388,10376,7,10389,4500,9436,10390,4821,10371,10382,10383,10378,10372,10370,7678,6682,10387,10381,10375,10401,10373,10374,10380,10377,1943,2679,10391,9876,6,10396,10397,10399,10394,10398,10392,10395,6870,10385,10386,3559,10384,10393,681,83,1963,680,476,3820,9087,10379,4486,447,10400],"class_list":["post-640118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto-raptors","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-basketball","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-nba","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-raptors","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-toronto","tag-toronto-raptors","tag-torontoraptors","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=640118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640118\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/640119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=640118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=640118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=640118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}