Ingram says he loves this Raptors group's fight after back-to-back losses to the West's best teams.
The Toronto Raptors came into last week feeling good about themselves, sitting in fifth place in the Eastern Conference and playing some of their best basketball of the season.
Then, the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs came to town and reminded Toronto just how wide the gap still is between them and the league's elite.
The Raptors dropped both games, falling 116-107 to OKC on Tuesday and 110-107 to San Antonio on Wednesday, but forward Brandon Ingram isn't hanging his head about it.
Speaking at Friday's practice via John Chidley-Hill of The Canadian Press, Ingram pointed to what he sees as a silver lining in the tough stretch.
"The thing that I love about this group is the resiliency," said Ingram. "We had a chance to shift the momentum, but we made a couple mistakes that we can learn from. I'm just happy to be in those games, being able to go back to the film and learn and see what we can do better for the next game."
Two Leads, Two Letdowns
What made both losses sting is that the Raptors had control of each game at different points.
Toronto led the Thunder by as many as 10 points before OKC's depth wore them down in the second half, and they held a 15-point lead over the Spurs before San Antonio stormed back in the fourth quarter.
Against the Spurs, Toronto went into the final period up 12 but then missed eight straight shots to open the quarter, which let San Antonio take the lead and never give it back.
Ingram did his part in both games and finished with 20 points and a season-high 11 rebounds against the Spurs, while Scottie Barnes added 15 points before being limited by a right quad contusion he picked up in the Thunder game.
Injuries played a role in the second loss especially, as rookie center Collin Murray-Boyles left the Spurs game early after aggravating a sprained left thumb while guarding Victor Wembanyama.
What the Losses Say About Toronto's Ceiling
At 34-25, the Raptors are sitting in fifth in the Eastern Conference, a game ahead of Philadelphia, and they are very much in the playoff picture.
Ingram has been one of the biggest reasons for that, averaging 21.8 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game this season.
Barnes has been just as important with his all-around play, putting up 19.1 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 5.6 assists per game while anchoring the defense.
But the numbers against top teams tell a different story.
Toronto is just 4-15 against the league's top 10 teams this season, and three of those four wins came against the Cleveland Cavaliers before they added James Harden in February.
That is the kind of gap that separates a good regular season team from a real playoff threat, and Ingram knows it.
The good news is that Ingram and this group seem to understand what they need to fix.
He said that consistency was the main focus at Friday's practice and that the team went over its defensive breakdowns, screen-and-roll coverage and fourth-quarter execution.
The Raptors have the talent to compete with anyone for stretches, but playing a full 48 minutes against elite competition is something they have not figured out yet.
If Toronto can close that gap down the stretch, they could be a tough matchup in the first round. If not, these kinds of losses will keep repeating themselves when the games matter most.