Gameday: Pacers @ Raptors, Feb. 5

The Raptors host the fifth-seeded Indiana Pacers in a crucial home-and-away series that could see Toronto finally pull away from the Eastern Conference (excluding the Milwaukee Bucks, who they currently sit 7 games behind). In the December 23rd matchup, Toronto suffered a 120-115 away loss in overtime. Granted, Siakam was injured and did not play — but, that doesn’t exonerate Toronto from the result.

Now, things stand a bit tougher for Toronto as Pacers star guard, Victor Oladipo has recently returned from a major quad injury. In the 2017-18 season, Oladipo enjoyed a career year (capped by an All Star appearance, a Most Improved Player Award, and an All-NBA First Team Defense nod). In the 2018-19 season, his PPG, RPG, SPG and BPG averages slightly dropped as well as his shooting splits. With the added depth on the Indiana roster, McMillan did not feel the same dire need for Oladipo to shoulder the load both offensively and defensively.

Then came a terribly awful, unforeseen injury.

If memory serves correct, it was actually against Toronto just over a year ago (January 23rd, 2019 — 378 days ago) that Victor Oladipo ruptured his right quadriceps tendon. He missed the remainder of the 2018-19 season (including Indiana’s playoff run), as well as the first few months of the current season. Oladipo slowly made his way back, with Indiana prioritizing a gradual, safe recovery process for the franchise’s prized possession. The 6’4 guard made his initial return with the Pacers G-League affiliate, Fort Wayne Mad Ants. Fast forward to his recent season debut on January 29th, Oladipo arrived on scene with an absolute bang. The Bulls had the lead with less than a minute remaining. Indiana handed Oladipo the ball and steered clear. As the game came ticking to a close, he sank a game-tying 3-point bomb to send it into overtime. He finished with nine points, four assists, two rebounds and one 3-pointer in 21 minutes.

In terms of load management — Pacers head coach, Nate McMillan made it clear time and time again that Oladipo would not see extended minutes for a large period of time until he was fully acclimated both mentally and physically. He, as well as other staff members have cited the ‘long-term importance to the franchise’ as the rationale for their view. Despite this ongoing rhetoric, as recently as Tuesday (following a post-practice meeting with media) — McMillan said he would reconsider the minute restriction and even consider starting Oladipo as soon as Wednesday versus Toronto.

Toronto enters the game on a streak of streaks — 11 games to be exact. The longest current winning streak in the NBA and a tie of a franchise record set in 2016 (and tied in 2018). As the Coach of the Year case for Nick Nurse grows (and his monthly-award trophy collection), a relatively healthy Toronto Raptors group presently look to be the favourite in just about every game they play for the rest of the season. For a team who lost a consensus top-five player in the NBA (he who must not be named) and has suffered a surplus of injuries all season long, it’s almost miraculous where Toronto currently stands.

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Without a doubt, Toronto will be gearing up for a tougher night than its most recent opponents have given them, as the well-rounded Pacers will look for Malcolm Brogdon and recently-named Eastern All Star, Domantas Sabonis to lead them to victory Wednesday night. Strangely enough, both Toronto and Indiana will face off three (3) separate times this month with a game tonight in Toronto, Friday night in Indianapolis, and on the 23rd of February, back again in the capital of Ontario.

The Indiana Pacers lead the season series 1-0.