Raptors Should Look In Mirror Before Blaming Someone Else

Last night was for everyone frustrating with the Raptors performance against the Sacramento Kings. The call at the end of the game has become the narrative of this game which it really should not be. It is not about the call itself and if it was the correct call. It was not no one is debating that fact. Although the technical as a result of the call was 100% the right call from the letter of the law in the NBA.

The Raptors played terrible in this basketball game for somewhere around 38 to 40 minutes of it. That is not what anyone is talking about and it should be. The fact the Raptors defensive play has been suffering for weeks now regardless of the results they have been achieving in terms of wins and loses.

Raptors fans have become so paranoid with refs and it might not be completely their fault. The NBA itself has in the past gone on the record and said that calls had been blown in games involving the Raptors. Some even worse than last night where it literally was the difference between winning and losing.

Here is the thing though you can act like a victim and just take it and continue to cry foul. I see it in a different way where good teams overcome any adversity whatever it is. I also get completely frustrated by the fact the Raptors poor effort put them in the position for them to be impacted on so greatly by a call of a referee at the end of the day.

Another thing that was lost in the anger over the call that didn’t go the Raptors way was the play of DeMarcus Cousins. The Raptors got flat out beat down by this young man. He dove into the scorers table going for a ball. That summed up his effort level and his team’s for the majority of the night. The Raptors played hard for the last 8 or so minutes of the final quarter.

Sometimes in life you get what you deserve at the end of the day. This is not to say a ref blowing a call is right but it is karma to some extent. The Raptors did not give their best effort for the majority of the game. That at the end of the day is why they lost the game ultimately in my mind.

I spend close to an hour on Twitter expressing my opinion on all of this and it was met with a ton of negative reaction to it. I think people know by this point I think what I do about things and I am not very likely to change my mind. You can respect that or choose not too. I just believe strongly that Raptors fans are using this bad call as a way to excuse the poor play in this game. It is much easier to blame the ref than have that look in the mirror moment and say these guys we root for didn’t give us their “A” level effort on this night.

The Raptors are having some success this year and the excuses of the past are not going to fly anymore. What also isn’t going to fly is the way the Raptors are playing of late in the playoffs. That is in games they are winning and losing of late.