For the fourth time this season, the Toronto Raptors were defeated by the New York Knicks, this time 111-95 Tuesday night in Scotiabank Arena. Losing to a top-10 team in the NBA is no anomaly for the Raptors, as their record against such teams fell to 1-16, outside of the pre-James Harden Cleveland Cavaliers. 

There really is no proof that the Raptors can make any real noise in the postseason, given their resume over the first 61 games of their season. At 35-26, Toronto has shown that fourth-quarter scoring may be its worst quality (25.6 points per game, 29th in the NBA), and specifically in the clutch (final five minutes in a 5-point or less game) they are equally as poor (7.2 points per game, 28th in the NBA). 

Toronto Raptors guard Jamal Shead (23), forward Scottie Barnes (4), and head coach Darko Rajakovic | © John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images

These two stats alone should give fans no reason to believe in this team going into the postseason. But with 21 games left in the regular season, there is real room for improvement in those areas. Whether it’s different rotations or offensive schemes, there are ways to get out of poor scoring efforts, especially with two All-Stars in Brandon Ingram and Scottie Barnes. 

One problem that may be clouding this team far before the clutch moments in games is the lack of production coming from the bench unit. 

Tuesday night’s contest was a perfect example of this monumental issue for the Raptors. The bench scoring distribution was 26-8 in favor of the Knicks, and Toronto’s four players who played more than one minute combined for 2-for-13 from the field and 0-for-6 from beyond the arc. They rank 25th in the league in bench scoring with 31.9 points per game, interestingly enough, right ahead of New York with 31.5. 

Bench scoring is something that may or may not be fixable, depending on the team and the given night. Even its general impact is skewed amongst the NBA’s best; seven of the top 11 in bench scoring rank in the bottom 11 in the NBA in win percentage, and eight of the NBA’s top-12 teams rank in the bottom 11 in bench scoring. Depth is essential in the postseason, but it doesn’t always translate to scoring, and frankly, the Raptors are lacking both. 

The bigger problem in Toronto is the lack of consistency from anyone other than Ingram. He has scored at least 20 points in five of the last seven games, with the only two where he didn’t coming against the two best teams in the NBA, the Oklahoma City Thunder and Detroit Pistons. Even Barnes has only scored 20 or more points twice in his last 14 games. He obviously provides much more than just scoring, but it is alarming that the Raptors’ second option offensively is struggling to reach 20 points. 

Moving to the other two guys who are specifically paid to score in Immanuel Quickley and RJ Barrett, consistency is simply not imaginable. Starting with Quickley, he has scored at least 20 points 10 times in 2026 (24 games), but has simultaneously scored 15 points or fewer seven times in the same stretch. He’s had more great games than he’s had poor, but having a poor scoring night in nearly 30% of games is detrimental to a playoff-aspiring team. 

Toronto Raptors guard/forward RJ Barrett (9) and guard Immanuel Quickley (5) | © Brad Penner-Imagn Images

Barrett poses an interesting case due to his injuries this season. From Nov. 24th to Jan. 23rd, the former Duke Blue Devil played just 6 games due to separate knee and ankle injuries, and he hadn’t been able to find his offensive rhythm until very recently. Since returning, in 14 games he has scored 20 or more points five times (including three out of his last four games), while scoring 15 or fewer points seven times. 

This remarkable inconsistency across the board makes the Raptors very simple to defend. It really just becomes a matter of taking the ball out of Ingram’s hands, and figuring out who else can score on that given night, then doing the same to them. Defending two players is much easier than having to worry about all five, and that is why the Raptors struggle against the best teams in the league. The best teams, players, defenses, and coaches understand what it takes to stop the opposing team in crunch time, and the lack of offensive production around Ingram gives Toronto little to no hope of succeeding in the postseason this year.