Raptors Takeaways: Thinned-out lineup has tough night vs. underperforming Suns

For a night, both the Phoenix Suns and Toronto Raptors looked more like what people expected them to look like right now rather than how they’ve actually looked of late.

For the Suns, it comes perilously, frustratingly late. A 129-89 win Monday pushed them to 32-37, drawing them within one game of the final Western Conference play-in spot, right as Anthony Davis reportedly nears a return for the Dallas Mavericks. Why it took until March 17, against a thinned-out lottery team, following a 6-15 stretch of play, for the Suns to once again show proof of concept is something the front office will spend most of the off-season grappling with.

It even took a strong wake-up call from Toronto to get Phoenix going. The Suns lazed through the opening quarter, at one point allowing the Raptors to go up by seven. Immanuel Quickley and Orlando Robinson found space in the paint late in the shot clock with little resistance. Scottie Barnes cut and dropped no-look dump-offs against inattention. Kevin Durant and Devin Booker moved casually on offence, reminiscent of Toronto’s upset against the Suns in Toronto a few weeks back, at least for Durant.

It all feels very uncharacteristic for the individuals, except it’s become the defining feature of Phoenix’s season. However — and Suns ownership and management will surely wrestle with this, too, in July — it doesn’t take a whole lot for a team with Booker at the helm to look pretty good.

Outscoring the Raptors himself, Booker led a monstrous 39-11 second quarter that Toronto had no answer for. The Raptors’ young players were still effortful, trying to hit the offensive glass and find seams in transition that were open a quarter prior. Little materialized, as the team missed shots and coughed up turnovers and watched Booker hit difficult shots or draw extra bodies for late kick-outs to open shooters.

Mike Budenholzer opted to roll with a lineup of Booker, Ryan Dunn, and three bench pieces for a long stretch, deciding momentum is too valuable at this juncture of the playoff push to turn your back on. With no Durant on the floor and Bradley Beal out with a sore hamstring, it was Booker and well-fit role pieces; Tyus Jones to share the initiating, Royce O’Neale to defend and space the floor, Dunn to defend and punish how much the Raptors (correctly) helped off of him, and rookie big Oso Ighodaro giving the Suns good big-man minutes after trying what feels like 22 different centres the last two seasons.

It was just one quarter. Maybe it proves an important one for the Suns over the next few weeks, or maybe the Cancun-on-3 vibe they’ve been giving off since the All-Star break is simply too strong.

For Toronto, it’s a little more in line with an outcome you’d expect on a night where Jakob Poeltl rests and RJ Barrett (illness) joined Gradey Dick, Brandon Ingram, Ja’Kobe Walter, Ulrich Chomche and Jared Rhoden on the injured list. That the Raptors won six of seven while resting players, dealing with injuries and playing development-focused fourth-quarter lineups is a testament to the players and culture, even if it’s a bit awkward day-to-day.

That the second quarter stood out in such contrast to the way they’ve normally played, and been able to leverage their effort play-to-play, also says a lot. Good teams have bad nights; rebuilding teams, even fun ones, should be expected to have them, too.

And in the big picture, of course, the lottery odds are important With the deficit for the final play-in spot now 5 1/2 games with 13 to play, that will probably come into greater focus even for those fans who would prefer not to tank. (It is, after all, the best time of year to learn about some draft prospects while gluing yourself to the couch for four days.)

The second half was more of the same. Booker got back on track early by drawing a three-shot foul on Quickley for the second time, sub-30 percent 3-point shooter Dunn knocked down an end-of-clock triple, and Durant, who’d been struggling against Barnes’s defence, found a groove. Darko Rajakovic then closed with a young lineup full of guys in prove-it situations, this time for the traditional reasons instead of, uh, the recent ones.

Here are a few more notes and takeaways from a tough night in Phoenix.

• Jonathan Mogbo made his return and drew the start, including occasional Durant duties. Mogbo was technically available Sunday, but with him and Ocahi Agbjai both returning from injury, the Raptors opted to only play (and start) one each game and rest the other.

While Agbaji looked rust-free and had a great game Sunday, Mogbo struggled a bit in his return, shooting 1-of-7. He did do a nice job coming down with rebounds and looking to make plays, which should always be a staple of his game. The nose for the rim, and aggression to get there, remains something the team is trying to coax out of him more often.

Mogbo starting also gave the Raptors two masked starters, as he and Jamison Battle are expected to wear protective masks for their nasal fractures for the remainder of the season. I have no database query for this, but I have to imagine it’s pretty rare, historically, for dual-masked starters.

• This was the Raptors’ 30th starting lineup of the season, already tying last year’s total. The franchise record is 38, set during the Tampa Tank 2020-21 season. Matching that is probably a long shot with so few games to go.

• Quick hits: It was a pretty tough night for Jamal Shead, who shot 1-of-8 and was a minus-25. He’s been really good during the team’s strong stretch, so no cause for concern here. … Jamison Battle got 12 3-point attempts and has now taken 49 in his last seven games. He’s hit 36.7 percent of those, a bit down from his season mark, but it makes sense to give him a very green light on a variety of attempts. … Nobody on the team had a plus-minus better than minus-12, so it was a true team effort. … The Raptors shot 35.6 percent overall and 28.6 percent on threes. Even on a night when you took care of the ball, that’s tough living. They also weren’t quite as strong on the offensive glass as they have been of late.

• As ugly as the final score was, at least the Raptors no longer dust off their St. Patrick’s Day uniform, which was voted the second-worst jersey in franchise history when I polled people a few years back. The Leafs wore their St. Pats jerseys and the Jays wore green hats today, whereas I almost forgot to wear green and only had some in my New York Liberty hat (welcome, Natasha Cloud!).

• Raptors 905 snapped a 10-game losing streak Monday, winning 115-114 on three clutch free throws from Tylor Perry with 0.4 seconds left on the clock. He and Evan Gilayrd combined for 59 points, which is really fun to see for two guys who have been there all season and are seeing expanded opportunities with so many players injured or called up.

It was a wild one, too. Eugene Omoruyi, E.J. Liddell, and Jahmir Young were all ejected in the second half as the culmination of some feisty play that had been brewing for a while. Canadian Emanuel Miller, meanwhile, thought he’d hit a game-winner before Perry’s late free throws swung it. Those free throws came thanks to an ill-advised foul from old friend Javon Freeman-Liberty, who otherwise had a great game for Windy City.

The 905 have five games left in their season.

• Jared Rhoden was out for the 905 in that game due to an ankle sprain suffered last week. He has seven NBA games remaining, once he’s back to health.

• Speaking of 905ers to make the NBA, it’s been great to see Oshae Brissett back in the NBA, and even starting at centre (!) for the 76ers on Monday. Less cool was seeing Fred VanVleet hard-foul him after a perceived no-call, earning a Flagrant 2 and an ejection. In the end, Philly lost in overtime despite 46 from Quentin Grimes, and Houston moved back into second in the West, so everyone is happy here.

• On the draft lottery front, if you’re looking for a guide on what prospects to watch in which March Madness games, No Ceilings has a good primer up. We’ll continue to focus on the NCAA Tournament in addition to the Raptors on The Raptors Show these next few weeks.