Leonard & VanVleet bemoan Raptors display in Magic blow-out
After succumbing to the Orlando Magic on Friday, Fred VanVleet believes the Toronto Raptors made it too easy for their opponents.
Kawhi Leonard and Fred VanVleet conceded the Toronto Raptors made life too easy for the Orlando Magic in Friday's heavy defeat.
The Raptors, sitting second in the NBA's Eastern Conference with a 26-11 record, went down 116-87 to the Magic (15-19) despite leading by four at the end of the first quarter.
The Magic outscored the Raptors by 33 points across the next two quarters, and VanVleet provided an honest assessment after the game.
"We want to give them credit, they played a great game, I don't want to disrespect them in any way but in the most part from our end it felt like most of that stuff we could do better," he said.
"You can make wide open shots, make your lay-ups, make your free throws and not make it so easy on them.
"They played a good game but we definitely helped them play a good game and we just couldn't get a hold on them.
"We didn't play tough enough in spurts and that's a recipe for disaster in this league."
"We didn't make many shots, we didn't play too well defensively, they got a lot of easy lay-ups and open shots," added Leonard, who contributed 21 points in a losing cause.
"We're not making shots [so] it's not going to be a good game for you."