Game Rap: Raptors 105, Nuggets 106

Holly MacKenzie - Raptors.com

Will Barton hit two free throws to give the Denver Nuggets a four-point lead with 2.4 seconds remaining. Kyle Lowry hit a three-pointer from halfcourt at the buzzer, but the Nuggets walked away with a 106-105 win. The Raptors moved to 12-8 on the season with the loss.

Once again the Raptors found themselves with a large halftime deficit after another slow start. Toronto allowed the Nuggets to jump out to an 18-point lead midway through the second quarter before trimming it to 14 at the half. The Raptors went into the fourth trailing by 10 and got within two points, but were unable to get the stops they needed down the stretch as the Nuggets reeled off a 6-0 run to push their lead back to eight with 3:43 remaining.

DeMar DeRozan scored a game-high 34 points on 14-for-26 shooting to go with five rebounds, and five assists. DeRozan didn’t turn the ball over and was a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line. On the season, DeRozan is averaging 21 points, 4.2 rebounds and 4.1 assists.

Cory Joseph came off the bench to score 15 points on 6-for-9 shooting. He scored eight of his points in the third where he was 3-for-3 from the floor as the Raptors mounted their comeback. Joseph added four rebounds, two assists and two steals in 28 minutes.

It’s tough. We can’t be the ones complaining because we’re the ones doing it to ourselves. If we win, cool, and we realize how hard we have to work to win. When we lose, we could have done this [hard work] early in the first quarter, so we have to get better at that.”- DeMar DeRozan on the effort it takes trying to come back in games after slow starts

44… Percent shooting from beyond the arc for the Nuggets, who made 12 of their 27 attempts from deep. The Raptors connected on eight of 27 attempts (30 percent).30… Assists for the Nuggets on 38 made field goals. In comparison, the Raptors recorded 21 assists on 39 made field goals.4… Despite the loss, the Raptors recorded a season-low five turnovers in the game.

“Teams are coming out aggressive and we aren’t matching their intensity. We have to figure out how to match other team’s intensity or come out with more ourselves.”- Kyle Lowry on slow starts“Consistency. We’ve got to get to a level of play that we decide we’re going to play at from the start of the game to the end of the game. We can’t wait to get our teeth kicked in before we start to play. That’s been our M.O. Whether we change the starting unit or change whatever the rotation is just to get that jumpstart, we have to do it because it’s too many games in a row now that we get out and dig ourselves a hole, no matter who it is, and we have to dig ourselves out of it. It’s just too hard in this league to do that.”- Dwane Casey on needing to improve starts and not face a large deficit before starting to compete“I think the biggest thing is we’ve got to come out with more of a sense of urgency. We’ve got to be more physical on the defensive end. I think we’re not being physical on the defensive end and it’s kind of messing us up on the offensive end. I think it all starts with defence.”- DeMarre Carroll on needing to fix slow starts with defenceI kind of play my role right now, trying to understand guys. Understand what guys I can push, what guys I can’t push, but I think it’s become the time of the year where I've got to be more active, more vocal and do it on the defensive end and get my guys going.”- DeMarre Carroll on learning how to motivate on the defensive end of the floor

The Raptors host the undefeated Golden State Warriors at the Air Canada Centre on Saturday at 5 P.M. ET.