Raptors’ three-point shooting goes cold

TORONTO – Three-point shooting is the limb of prime successful the modern NBA but the Toronto Raptors are struggling to find consistency from beyond the arc.

RJ Barrett of Mississauga, Ont., made 1 of Toronto’s 5 three-pointers arsenic the Raptors made 33 attempts from beyond the arc successful a 111-101 nonaccomplishment to the Boston Celtics connected Tuesday. That amounted to a woeful 15.2 shooting percent from scope for the Raptors against the reigning NBA champions aft Toronto was 20 for 35 connected threes, 57.1 per cent, successful a 127-109 triumph implicit the Phoenix Suns connected Sunday.

“Sometimes you marque shots, sometimes you don’t,” said Barrett, who finished with a team-best 22 points contempt going 1 for 5 connected three-pointers against Boston. “I deliberation we really got a batch of bully looks, honestly, astir apt amended looks than we got against Phoenix.

“But, you know, they conscionable didn’t driblet today. I deliberation adjacent with that, we inactive played hard, and we inactive played well, adjacent though we weren’t making shots.”

The Raptors went 8 for 8 connected three-point attempts to adjacent retired their triumph connected Sunday. Toronto past went 0 for 11 from beyond the arc to commencement Tuesday’s nonaccomplishment to the Celtics, not making a 3 until good into the 2nd quarter.

“We marque immoderate shots, it looks wholly different,” said Scottie Barnes, who had 21 points connected Tuesday contempt missing each 5 of his three-point attempts. “But, you know, we didn’t. It didn’t autumn tonight.

“We inactive person got to cleanable up immoderate things. It’s not an excuse.”

Boston won the NBA rubric past play thanks, successful part, to its proficiency with the three.

The Celtics person leaned into that, putting up a league-high 47.7 three-point attempts per crippled this season. Toronto has attempted the second-fewest threes successful the NBA successful the 2024-25 campaign, with 33 per crippled heading into Tuesday night.

“If you instrumentality a batch of them, you’re going to marque some,” said Barrett. “They instrumentality a batch of attempts, they marque a batch of threes.

“You decidedly effort to play the game, effort to marque their threes hard contested, and past effort to sprout arsenic galore arsenic we can. … They conscionable made theirs, and we didn’t marque ours.”

Head manager Darko Rajakovic agreed with Barrett that the prime of Toronto’s three-points attempts against Boston were arsenic good, if not better, than the looks the Raptors got against Phoenix.

“I privation that from past crippled those 20 that we made, that we did not marque 4 of those, that we kept them for tonight,” joked Rajakovic. “In this scenario, we triumph the game. I thought that prime of those shots were good. The shot did not spell successful tonight.”

Forwards Kristaps Porzingis (illness) and Al Horford (left toed sprain) arsenic good arsenic constituent defender Jrue Holiday (rest) didn’t play for Boston. Porzingis was a precocious scratch and Holiday had a planned nighttime disconnected arsenic the Celtics were playing the archetypal crippled of a back-to-back.

Despite woeful three-point shooting passim the game, Toronto hung in, adjacent taking a little one-point pb successful the 2nd quarter. The Raptors managed that by an impressively businesslike crippled from successful close, going 37-for-50 (74 per cent) connected two-point tract goals.

“Horford and Porzingis didn’t play, truthful it decidedly opened up a batch much things astatine the rim for america today,” said Barrett. “We were trying to person arsenic galore of those arsenic we could.

“I judge that if we marque immoderate of those threes, conscionable 4 more, and it’s a wholly antithetic game.”

This study by The Canadian Press was archetypal published Feb. 25, 2025.