On the 20th anniversary of the first game in the team’s history, the Toronto Raptors have set a new franchise-best with a 4-0 record to start the 2015-16 season.
With Tuesday’s 102-91 victory over the Dallas Mavericks, the Raptors are officially off to their best start ever. The team opened the 2008-09 and 2004-05 seasons 3-0 but would ultimately finish 33-49 on both occasions. The hope here is that a 4-0 mark not only builds momentum and cohesion early but provides a cushion against any potential slump in the coming month, as Tuesday marked the first of 10 road games in a 12-game stretch.
Raptors’ fans learned not to overvalue a hot start last season, when the team flew out to 7-1 and 24-7 marks before the wheels began falling off. DeMar DeRozan got hurt, Kyle Lowry took on too large a load in response and eventually hit the wall, and the Raptors’ ugly but effective isolation-heavy offense got figured out enough that it was no longer a panacea for the leaky defense.
The evidence through four games suggests that this year’s start is more reflective of the team’s actual quality.
The Raptors are getting it done on both ends of the floor, with the more conservative defensive approach – made possible by additional individual defensive talent – and a more free-flowing offense both looking strong. DeMarre Carroll appears to be a great fit in the new-look starting lineup, shaky Tuesday aside, Jonas Valanciunas is showing signs of further improvement, and the second unit looked better than expected in the first three games with Cory Joseph’s floor management a boon and strong starts from Terrence Ross and Patrick Patterson. The bench was a bit of a problem Tuesday, but Lowry and Luis Scola helped cover up for that issue with terrific offensive performances.
This is also a team that appears tailor-made for gutting out ugly games. The Raptors certainly weren’t at their best, but they kept things close until the offense found it’s footing late, closing the game on a 20-5 run. Letting opponents hang around is hardly ideal, but they’ve now managed to grind out road wins on two occasions when they weren’t at their best early. That level of resiliency and the ability to secure victories on off nights will serve them well over 82 games. (Not that, you know, strong starts wouldn’t be even better.)
It will be tough sledding to keep the undefeated start alive on Wednesday. The Raptors are set to visit the Oklahoma City Thunder on the second night of a back-to-back, and the Thunder have unsurprisingly looked awesome with Kevin Durant back and healthy. DeRozan was the only starter not to play 30 minutes or more (he played 28) against Dallas, and the team could be tired after having to play nearly the entirety of the game at full-effort to put away the Mavericks. The 3-1 Thunder are deeper than in years past, and their offense is borderline unguaradable when Durant slides to the four with Serge Ibaka at the five. But more on that match-up in the morning.
For now, enjoy the best start in franchise history.
