-I'm running out of ways to say "heartbreaking loss" here guys. Yep, the Toronto Raptors dropped another winnable one, this time in the game's final seconds to the Memphis Grizzlies, 102 to 99. It was a game of runs but unfortunately the Grizz got the last word, winning their ninth match in 11 tries, sending Raptors' fans home with heavy hearts yet again.
-What happened? Well the play-by-play went something like this:
-Toronto had the lead with 52 seconds left in the match, up 98 to 97. After some back-and-forth action, Rudy Gay hit a jumper to put Memphis up one with 26 seconds left, forcing the Dinos to answer. Unfortunately Linas Kleiza's 17 foot jumper was off, the Grizz secured the rebound, and then sent a pass down the court to an open Tony Allen who converted on the lay-up and was fouled.
-He missed the foul shot meaning the Raps were still only down one possession, but on the ensuing inbounds play, the Raps were again unable to score as this time it was Jose Calderon drawing iron on a 3-pointer.
-The Grizz secured the rebound again off the Jose miss, and that was that.
-The Raps actually shot over 50 per cent from the field in the loss, and hit 85 per cent of their free-throw attempts. But the ones they missed, they missed in key moments as noted, and Memphis made up for Toronto's shooting accuracy by getting to the line 12 more times, and converting at a much higher rate on fast-break points.
-That's one of the big metrics in the loss as the Dinos turned it over 16 times. Against other clubs, maybe not as much of an issue but the Grizz scored 21 points off said TO's, and that in the end torpedoed Toronto.
-Finally, you have to question some of Dwane Casey's late-game personnel decisions in this one. DeMar DeRozan scored only 4 points on 2 of 8 shooting, essentially being invisible all night, while players like Barbosa and Bayless were on fire all night, yet it was DeRozan who played the team's crunch time minutes, not Bayless.