The Clippers had this one in hand for three quarters. Then the fourth quarter arrived, and everything unraveled.
Los Angeles walked into Monday night needing a win badly, and for most of the game against Toronto, it looked like it might get one. The Clippers carried a 63-52 lead into halftime and still controlled the flow well into the second half. But the Raptors flipped the game with a furious closing stretch, erasing a 14-point fourth-quarter deficit and leaving the Clippers with a 125-118 loss - their sixth straight.
Toronto’s final period was the difference, plain and simple. The Raptors poured in 47 points in the quarter and shot 61.9% from the field over those last 12 minutes.
Immanuel Quickley did a lot of the damage, scoring 14 of his 27 points in the fourth. Scottie Barnes added 15 of his 22 in the final period, then delivered the shot that put Toronto in front for good with 2:08 left on a jumper for the first lead of the second half.
The Clippers never answered.
There were bright spots on the Los Angeles side, but they weren’t enough to survive the collapse. Kobe Sanders turned in a career night with 26 points.
Isaiah Jackson gave the bench a lift with 19. Darius Garland finished with 16 points and eight assists, though his seven turnovers were part of a rough night for the Clippers with the ball.
As a team, Los Angeles committed 15 turnovers, and those mistakes became harder to absorb once Toronto cranked up the pressure and started converting at a higher rate. The Clippers also had to manage the game without Rui Hachimura and Derrick Jones Jr., thinning out the rotation even further.
It was the kind of loss that leaves a mark because the ingredients for a win were there. The Clippers had the lead, they had scoring, and they had enough time to close it out. Instead, Toronto took over late and turned a promising night into another setback for a team still trying to find its footing early in the season.
Now the skid sits at six games, and the margin for error is getting smaller.
In Other News...
Raptors May Have Found An Unexpected Answer During This Ugly Stretch
During an ugly stretch that has tested Torontos rotation, Collin Murray-Boyles has started to look like more than a promising young piece. His defensive activity has stood out, and so has the kind of versatility that lets the Raptors use him in different spots without losing energy or edge. He has also chipped in offensively enough to make the case that his impact is not limited to one end of the floor.
With Jakob Poeltl struggling and Leonard unavailable, the idea is simple enough: Murray-Boyles might be Torontos best temporary answer at center. It is still an opinion more than a confirmed change, but the logic is hard to ignore when the team needs steadiness, effort and some lineup flexibility. For a Raptors group searching for anything that can stabilize the present, he has at least given them a real option to consider. [Read more 🡒]
Former Knicks Guard Just Landed In An Uncomfortable Spot For New York
The Raptors filled their open two-way spot by bringing in Kevin McCullar Jr., a guard who had been on two-way deals with the Knicks and has spent most of his pro time developing in the G League. For Toronto, it is a low-risk move that adds another young backcourt option to a roster that has been willing to keep churning the edges of its depth chart.
McCullar can appear in up to 45 regular-season games for the Raptors, but his path to the postseason is a little more complicated. If Toronto wants him available once the games matter most, he would need to be moved onto the standard roster first, which gives this signing a practical upside beyond just filling a vacancy. [Read more 🡒]
Raptors Keep Running Into A Problem That Could Derail Their Start
The Raptors have spent the first stretch of the 2026-27 season trying to hold the line without Kawhi Leonard, and the results have been mixed at 4-4 through eight games. Leonard has appeared in only two games because of injury, leaving Toronto to sort through a rotation that has shown flashes but also some troubling stretches when the games tighten up.
The biggest concern has been what keeps happening after halftime. Toronto has repeatedly let third quarters slip away, none more glaring than the collapse against Denver, when the Nuggets buried them 41-15 in the period and held them to 21.7 percent shooting. Getting Leonard back should help, and so could some lineup tweaks, but until the Raptors solve that recurring problem, the early-season footing still feels shaky. [Read more 🡒]