Two more sleeps till Raptors play
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— Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) February 19, 2020
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— Jeff Landicho (@Jeff__Landicho) February 18, 2020
That fully healthy lineup the Raptors are waiting for? It won’t happen. The injury bug has hit Toronto hard this season, with all of but one of the Raptors’ top seven players, OG Anunoby, sitting out at least a handful of games. The Raptors stuck with the group they have at the trade deadline in part because they’re confident that, when fully healthy, it can win. Marc Gasol should return from a hamstring strain after the all-star break but Toronto will likely still be without Norm Powell. The risk of injury only grows as the seasons ages and bodies get weary. Remember Leonard limping around with his Larry O’Brien in one hand and his Finals MVP trophy in the other last summer? Or how about Kyle Lowry’s bandaged thumb that later required surgery? Or Anunoby’s emergency appendectomy? Things happen. It doesn’t mean they can’t win, as Toronto has already proven. It just makes winning harder.
The Rap-Up: Toronto Raptors Games for February 17 – 23 – Raptors HQ
In the first act, the Raptors were a stubborn bunch, determined to out-perform pre-season prognostications and show all the doubters that they could succeed in a post-Kawhi world. Nick Nurse adamantly stuck to playing his seven holdovers from the championship core. The team jumped out to a 6-2 record, but didn’t turn any heads because the losses were to potential playoff foes, Boston and Milwaukee.
The second act was characterized by Toronto’s resiliency. Kyle Lowry and Serge Ibaka went down with injuries in New Orleans, forcing Nurse to finally tap into his reserves. While the schedule will say the Raptors game against the Lakers was their ninth of the season, one could argue that it was the unofficial beginning of Toronto’s title defense. The short-handed Raptors would upset the Lakers on their home floor and kick-start Nurse’s Coach of the Year campaign. Toronto would go on to win 60% of their next 30 games, despite missing at least two core players for 60% of the time.
The third act was all about winning. Marc Gasol’s return from injury sparked a 7-game win streak, until he re-aggravated his hamstring injury. The Raptors rode that momentum for an additional eight consecutive wins. The 15-game win streak had everything from impressive road wins (in Oklahoma City, San Antonio, and Indiana), intense nail-biters (vs. Indiana, in Atlanta, vs. Brooklyn), and good old-fashioned beat-downs (vs. Washington, Atlanta, and Chicago). During the streak, the Raptors had the number one offense, generated more turnovers than any other team, and scored more points off those turnovers than the rest of the league.
The fourth act of the Raptors season may not generate another franchise-best win streak, like the third act, but it promises to be healthier than the second act, and definitely as stubborn as the first act. Toronto has shown time and again that they can never be counted out against any opponent, regardless of who Nurse trots out. As every team returns from a much-needed break, the Raptors have momentum from the winning streak, the advantage of a battle-tested core, the guidance of an All-Star coaching staff, and the pedigree of a championship contender — with the Larry OB still firmly in their grasps! How this act plays out will go a long way in determining how the Raptors can defend their championship and how this team will look beyond this season.
Nurse on Lowry’s charges: ‘I had mixed emotions’ – Video – TSN
Nick Nurse joked about having ‘mixed emotions’ when Kyle Lowry took charges against Kawhi Leonard and James Harden in the fourth quarter and spoke about the intensity level of the game which resulted in a great atmosphere.
Raptors winning streak reminded JYD of memorable 2002 run to playoffs | Toronto Sun
The Toronto Raptors will start the back half of the season in unfamiliar territory — on a losing streak. After winning a franchise-best 15 straight games just before the all-star break, Toronto fell against Brooklyn. Still, former Raptor Jerome Williams knows a thing or two about win streaks and thinks the team will be quite formidable moving forward.
“It definitely builds a camaraderie and actually the confidence in the team so to have that happen before all-star week really gives them a sense of rejuvenation and confidence going into the tail-end of the season knowing that they’re one of the top teams in the league,” Williams told Postmedia during the all-star festivities.
Williams spent parts of four seasons in Toronto, including 2000-01 (the year Vince Carter famously missed against Philadelphia) and 2001-02, when Toronto lost Carter to injury down the stretch and looked out of the playoff picture until rallying to win nine straight and 12-of-14 to end the regular season.
That’s why this teams’ run brought back fond memories for Williams.
“It reminded me of the streak we went on back in 2002. We had to win (most games in March and April) to make the playoffs,” Williams said. “It’s sort of like a momentum thing. I could definitely sense the same thing happening with their streak. You get on this momentum and it doesn’t matter who you are playing.
“Obviously you get a good roll of a good stretch of teams that you have a good chance of beating, but you (also) have to run into a few teams that are going to be circled on a calendar, that, ‘Hey, these are going to be tough games.’ But you just force through it. You learn how to really persevere and really focus.”
NBA All-Star break: 30 questions for the second half of the NBA season – For the Win
2. Can the Raptors actually repeat?
Maybe! Last year at the All-Star break they were 43-16. This year, they’re 40-15 – so they aren’t far off. Pascal Siakam and Fred VanVleet have gotten even better an Kyle Lowry is still doing Kyle Lowry things. They’re a threat still.
Photo by Jeff Haynes/NBAE via Getty Images
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