The Raptors can't keep losing games like this.
The Toronto Raptors had no business losing to the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday night, and head coach Darko Rajakovic knew it.
Sacramento came into Scotiabank Arena with a 19-57 record, one of the worst in the league, missing nearly every key player on the roster due to season-ending injuries.
Yet the Kings walked out with a 123-115 win that left the Raptors stunned and their coach searching for answers in the postgame.
"We were trying, we were fighting back, we cut down the lead, but when you don't approach the game from the start with the level of intensity and attention to detail that you need to have, this is the outcome," Rajakovic said after the loss.
The Ugly Details
It really was that simple. Toronto came out flat, got dominated on the glass 48-32, and let former Raptors DeMar DeRozan and Precious Achiuwa torch them for 28 points each.
DeRozan was held to just two points in the first half, but caught fire down the stretch and scored 14 in the fourth quarter alone to put the game away.
Achiuwa had 18 points and 15 rebounds by halftime, and the entire Raptors team had just 18 boards in the opening two quarters combined. That kind of effort gap against a team playing with only 10 available players is hard to explain.
RJ Barrett led Toronto with 20 points, and Collin Murray-Boyles matched him with a career-high 20 off the bench, but it wasn't enough to dig out of the hole they created early.
Scottie Barnes had 14 points and 10 assists, although his scoring has been inconsistent over the past few weeks.
A Rough Stretch at the Wrong Time
The loss dropped the Raptors to 42-34 on the season and marked their second straight defeat after falling 127-116 to the Pistons the night before.
Toronto now sits seventh in the Eastern Conference, tied with the Philadelphia 76ers but losing the tiebreaker due to divisional records.
Just days ago, the Raptors looked unstoppable after blowing out the Magic by 52 points.
Now they're suddenly in danger of falling into the Play-In Tournament with six games left to play.
What makes this slide more concerning is the health situation.
Brandon Ingram sat out Wednesday with a sore heel, his third absence in the last six games.
Immanuel Quickley remains out with plantar fasciitis and has no timetable to return.
Those are two of Toronto's top offensive options, and losing them at this point in the season raises real questions about depth heading into the postseason.
The Raptors are going to need guys like Ja'Kobe Walter to step up if they want to survive a playoff run with this many bodies missing.
What Comes Next
Rajakovic also pointed to rebounding as the root of the problem, saying the team lacked discipline and effort on the boards.
It's one thing to lose to a good team on an off night, but dropping a game to a Kings squad that's 7-32 on the road while fighting for playoff seeding is the kind of result that can snowball.
Toronto heads to Memphis on Friday, and then a brutal stretch against Boston, Miami, and Miami again awaits shortly after.
If the Raptors don't figure out how to show up with energy from the opening tip, Rajakovic's postgame frustration might become a regular thing.