Toronto Raptors vs Orlando Magic Final Score: 126 – 107 — Raptors turnover woes lead to loss against the Magic

Toronto’s season high in turnovers led to their demise as they fall to the upstart Orlando Magic.

The Toronto Raptors dropped their second In-Season Tournament game 126-107 to the Orlando Magic.

Turnovers and a slow start led to Toronto’s downfall in this matchup. Facing the upstart Orlando Magic, the Raptors knew they were facing one of the league’s top defences and top scoring offences in the first half. The Magic average 61 points in the first half, good for third in the NBA. On the other hand, Toronto has gone down by at least 16 points in seven of their last nine games played. All around, Orlando was not a great matchup for Toronto and that was evident early on in the game.

After Toronto took a very early lead going up 4-2, Orlando went on a 8-0 run and never looked back the rest of the game. For much of the first quarter, the Raptors kept it relatively close, feeding Pascal and running the offence through their two-time All-NBA star who led the way with eight assists on the night. However, it was evident that Orlando’s second ranked defence was for real, racking up three steals in just the first quarter and forcing Toronto to miss most of their jumpers in the first frame. The Raptors entered the second quarter down by seven points, trailing 30-23.

The second quarter is where the game really slipped away from Toronto. Orlando went on a 15-3 run to start the second frame, taking advantage of the Raptors continuous turnovers. Toronto turned the ball over an additional five times in the second quarter, giving them 10 turnovers in the first half alone. A late resurgence capped off by a buzzer-beating Scottie Barnes three-pointer gave Toronto an 11-4 run to finish out the first half and reduce the lead to 67-56.

Unfortunately, Toronto couldn’t keep the momentum going as they entered the second half. They continued to turn the ball over and gave Orlando easy buckets in transition. Going the other way, a bright spot was Dennis Schroder taking over as the Raptors offence stalled and kept them in the game. The German guard made some timely shots and did not miss a three-pointer all night, leading the team in scoring as he tried to reduce the Magic’s lead. I supposed the rest of the roster did not feel like helping out, as Siakam, Barnes and Achiuwa were the only other Raptors to score in the quarter. Heading into the fourth, it was 100-82 for the Magic.

Toronto continued to turn the ball over in the fourth quarter, leading to a season high 24 turnovers total and giving Orlando 31 points off of turn overs on the night. A 10-4 Orlando run in the first six minutes of the final frame was enough for Darko Rajakovic to put in the bench for the night and accept the loss. Orlando continued to give it their all and cruised to a 126 – 107 victory. This is the In-Season Tournament after all, where point differential matters in the standings. However, Toronto’s hopes of winning the NBA Cup seem slim to none, sitting last in their group at 0 2 with a -22 point differential. Their next go-around in the IST comes Friday when they return home to host the struggling Chicago Bulls.

Falling to 6-8 on the season, Toronto will need to clean up quick as they head off to face the fastest pace team in the NBA in the Indiana Pacers tomorrow night.