Six games into the season and the Toronto Raptors have, in the words of Fred VanVleet, ``a boatload of problems.''
``This is probably uncharted territory for most of us,'' he said Monday night after the Raptors squandered another double-digit lead in falling 126-114 to the Boston Celtics, dropping their record to 1-5.
Pick your poison when it comes to Toronto's shortcomings so far this season. Erratic play, poor defence, subpar rebounding, questions about the bench. And perhaps worst of all, lack of fight.
``We just need to get a little bit more grittier, get a little bit more tougher and a little bit more nastier, and have a little bit of a swag(ger) to us,'' said a subdued Kyle Lowry.
``Right now we have no swag(ger) to us. Right now we have nothing. There's nothing to us. Teams are looking at us like 'All right, let's go eat.' And that's not a good feeling.''
Jayson Tatum scored 40 points as the Celtics, rallying from a first-half deficit, piled on Toronto's early-season misery.
The Raptors got off to a hot start with signs that Pascal Siakam might be emerging from his early-season funk. But it turned into merely another blown double-digit lead.
with files from (The Canadian Press)