The Raptors blew another chance to show Masai Ujiri they can handle big moments

Masai Ujiri wondered the other day about the Raptors’ attitude toward each other and the collective experience of some of the players in the final moments of close games.

The team’s vice chairman, who tossed around words like “too individual” when describing the crunch-time play of his team, said he was going to watch the final quarter of the regular season closely to assess who can handle those moments, and he adjust his thinking about the makeup of his roster accordingly.

And then the Raptors immediately gave him more fodder — not good — for his deliberations. They blew a 13-point lead with about five minutes remaining, crushed by bad defence and a stagnant offence, and gave a game to the Utah Jazz.

“That’s what this league is about, moving onto the next one.” Fred VanVleet said after Friday’s 122-116 loss. “Can’t get too caught up on one moment. The situation is what it is.

“You’ve got to just have tunnel vision and focus on the work that’s in front of us. We’ll let you guys speculate and write ’til your fingers fall off, but for us, we’ve got tough film to watch (Saturday), another good practice, and we’ve got our work to do on Sunday.”

Correcting those late-game flaws — the Raptors are an astonishing 6-15 in games decided by six points or fewer this season — has to be a priority. The season is not lost for the Raptors, who are in the thick of contention for a play-in spot and not entirely out of earning a guaranteed playoff spot, but it’s going to take a dramatic turnaround in the final 25 games for them to prove to Ujiri that they have the collective will to be kept together.

They made a couple of minor moves Saturday, assigning rookie Christian Koloko to the Raptors 905 to get some much needed playing time and adding Joe Wieskamp for the rest of the season. But those are inconsequential compared to what Ujiri’s job is for the next couple of months.

“I think at times in the season we got a little bit too individual, I think there’s times in the season when we went away from (a true team approach),” Ujiri said. “I didn’t know that there was as much focus. I’m hoping it comes back, as it seems like it is starting to a little bit, but again I say growth is non-linear and it’s kind of up and down with young teams, young players.”

There has been a lack of collective enthusiasm at times this season for the Raptors, the joy that a truly good team exhibits hasn’t always been prevalent. They revert to individual play too often, don’t cover for each other on defence and have a hard time snapping out of funks.

All-star forward Pascal Siakam was in the process of putting up a 35-point performance against Utah but had only one field-goal attempt in the final five minutes of a close game. The Raptors were good defensively for three quarters, when Utah shot about 48 per cent, but then the Jazz went 13-for-17 (76.5 per cent) in the final 12 minutes.

It has been a common theme throughout season, and it likely will be corrected with major off-season roster change. The players know it, Ujiri made it crystal clear.

“This is, I think, the most bumpy it’s been for us and we acknowledge that, we know that, and we hope to solve it,” Ujiri said, “but I just want to caution everyone that it’s not going to be overnight.

“That’s what happens with young players and young teams. You have to build gradually and hopefully we get there, but hopefully in the short term we make a good assessment at the end of the season.”

Doug Smith is a sports reporter based in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter: @smithraps