Trade winds certain to blow if reeling Raptors don't get house in order

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As they prepare to put their best foot forward following some recent missteps, the Raptors will be minus veteran Otto Porter Jr., for Monday’s night’s date in Gotham.

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Porter left Friday night’s loss in Charlotte with a foot contusion. And while he is feeling better, according to head coach Darko Rajakovic, Porter won’t be available against the Knicks.

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His time in Toronto has been plagued by foot problems, but the team remains optimistic in the wake of his latest mishap.

The same can’t be said of the state of the franchise, which continues to reside in an awkward middle ground. In the absence of a clear direction, one is left to wonder what path this team will ultimately decide to take.

The trade market is expected to open up soon, with players signed this summer eligible to be moved. But anyone expecting some ground-shaking deal to be made should keep their expectations in check.

Until a move of consequence does get engineered, the best course of action for the Raptors involves looking within.

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Rajakovic and his staff will have their work cut out, but no one said the task of turning a middling team into something more meaningful would be easy.

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After winning the season opener, the Raptors proceeded to drop the next four of five. At no time have they been able to reel off three straight wins.

At this particular time in the schedule, the Raptors find themselves in a rut following three straight losses and dropping five of their past six games.

A fourth consecutive loss seems almost like a slam dunk unless shots begin to drop.

In Toronto’s loss to the Hornets, Dennis Schroder, OG Anunoby and Gary Trent Jr., went a combined 6-of-29 from the field.

Trent missed all seven of his shots, while Schroder and Anunoby, two starters, missed all 10 of their combined three-point heaves.

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Against bad teams such as Washington and San Antonio, rebounding from a 20-point deficit is quite doable as the Raptors have ultimately proved.

In Charlotte, the Raptors once again found themselves in a 20-point hole against a bad team. Toronto would take a one-point lead with 4:23 remaining in the game, but lost, 119-116.

One could argue that Rajakovic should have kept bench players such as Malachi Flynn, Chris Boucher and Precious Achiuwa on the floor during the stretch instead of going back to his starters.

If one prefers to resort to the what-if game, one might want to point to the missed free throw by Scottie Barnes or the deep heave he took in a three-point game that was later determined to show his foot was on the three-point line, making it a two-point attempt.

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Little things such as court awareness often expose some big-picture issues in times of duress.

But at the end of the day, the game’s most basic fundamental involves shooting, which this group has clearly demonstrated it cannot.

They’ve lost when free throws were missed, when no bench production could be summoned, when three-point shooting went completely missing or when poor starts could not be overcome.

Barnes, who recorded a 30-point triple-double Friday night, and Pascal Siakam are Toronto’s best players.

“We have to come and play with some urgency from the beginning and lock in mentally,” Barnes said following the Charlotte setback. “Create stops and let that lead us to transition on the offensive end.”

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Barnes stated the obvious.

Defensively, the Raptors allowed the Hornets to shoot 55.7% from the field, including 52% from beyond the three-point arc.

Charlotte also made 18 of its 20 free throws.

BIG APPLE OF YOUR EYE

With the Raptors in New York on Monday night, plenty of attention has involved Jalen Brunson, the Knicks’ star point guard, and why he was on the floor late Friday night in Boston when the game was already in the Celtics’ control.

For those who weren’t aware of the circumstances, Brunson rolled his ankle by stepping on the foot of Boston’s Payton Pritchard with 21.1 seconds remaining and the Knicks trailing by 12 points.

While it’s true that no lead is safe in the NBA, Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau came under fire for his decision to keep Brunson in the game during what was essentially garbage time.

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Brunson was feted by his alma mater, Villanova, over the weekend and didn’t seem to be bothered by the ankle sprain. He has not missed a game for the Knicks this season.

When the Knicks came to Toronto on Dec. 1, Brunson played a team-high 36 minutes and scored a team-high 22 points, but he took 21 shots.

New York beat the Raptors 119-106 on a night when Barnes and Siakam combined to score 50 points.

A couple of numbers from that night stood out — New York’s 52-25 dominance in bench scoring and the plus-30 in three-point scoring.

Josh Hart, who scored 15 straight points for the Knicks, had more three-point makes (7) than the entire Raptors team (6).

The 12-9 Knicks enter Monday’s tip having lost two in a row. The Raptors have their own issues that need to be sorted out.

For the Knicks, there’s a sense of urgency as well given they’ll begin a 10-game stretch following Toronto’s visit that sees New York play eight times on the road.

The Raptors are 1-7 this season in road meetings against Eastern Conference opposition.

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