The Toronto Raptors On The Road: Next Five Games

The Toronto Raptors continue their six-game road trip with a matchup with the Phoenix Suns Tuesday night, where the Raptors look likely to start a new winning streak.

The Phoenix Suns have been awful. And hurting. They were awful long before the injuries started piling up, but this is different. This Phoenix team is your little brother getting smashed by a bully every few days, and the Toronto Raptors will be in town to play that bully role on Tuesday night.

Archie Goodwin, 21. Devin Booker, 19. Do you know who they are? These are the starting guards for the 14-35 Phoenix Suns.

Archie Goodwin is averaging 15.2 points, 3.5 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.3 steals and 4 turnovers per game since January 21st, when he took over as the starting point guard.

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Devin Booker is averaging 16.1 points, 3.2 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 2.2 turnovers in his 33.1 minutes per game in 17 games (16 starts) since Eric Bledsoe’s season-ending injury.

A week ago, Phoenix gave up 113 points on the road to the Philadelphia 76ers. Phoenix lost despite an efficient 26 points (11-for-15 from the field) from Archie Goodwin.

Toronto should win this one easily, as Phoenix is in shambles having just fired head coach Jeff Hornacek.

Next up on this road trip, the Toronto Raptors head to the Pacific Northwest to take on the 23-26 Portland Trail Blazers.

Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum are two terrific young players. Lillard can heat up at any time, and this Blazers team is built to hang around until Lillard finds his shot. Damian Lillard is doing just fine without LaMarcus Aldridge, who departed this past offseason via free agency to the San Antonio Spurs.

Lillard is averaging 24.2 points, 4.4 rebounds, 7.1 assists and a steal in 36 minutes per game.

CJ McCollum is the perfect two-guard for the Blazers. He doesn’t do much other than score, and that’s fine. More often than not, McCollum will take his 20 points and have a seat. McCollum has benefited most from Aldridge leaving for San Antonio, averaging 20.7 points, 3.5 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.1 steals per game.

Allen Crabbe is another young guard for the Trail Blazers who can score in a hurry. He doesn’t get as much attention in the media or on the court that teammate McCollum gets. Crabbe is averaging 11.2 points per game on 46.9 percent shooting from the field, and 37.8 percent from three.

Toronto should win this one, although Portland is capable of playing well at any pace.

For game four of this road trip, the Detroit Pistons (26-23) host the Toronto Raptors.

Detroit is a team that can play great one night, get blown out the next. Even if it’s inconsistent, good basketball is a welcome change to Pistons fans who have endured years of poor play.

Andre Drummond has finally begun tapping into his limitless potential. Averaging 17.3 points, 15.1 rebounds, 1.7 steals and 1.5 blocks per game. Drummond can single-handedly win or lose games for the Pistons at the free throw line. In his last 5 games, Drummond is shooting 26.1 percent from the line. He’s better than that, but amazingly, only just.

Drummond is a career 38.1 percent free throw shooter and is by far the worst free throw shooter in NBA history.

He’s the only Piston who matters. The Raptors can win all of the other matchups in this game rather easily. But to win the game, the Raptors must stop Drummond.

Good luck, Jonas Valanciunas. If things go badly, Toronto can take a page out of the Houston Rockets’ playbook and hack Drummond relentlessly, sending him to the free throw line over and over.

Minnesota(14-35) hosts the Toronto Raptors for game five of this road trip, Toronto’s final game before the All-Star break.

Karl-Anthony Towns is averaging 16.6 points, 9.9 rebounds (2.7 offensive ), 1.4 assists, 0.7 steals, 1.8 blocks and 2.2 turnovers in 29.8 minutes per game. Karl-Anthony Towns is 20. I just wanted to share his full line.

Andrew Wiggins is scoring more than 20 points in 35.1 minutes per game for the Timberwolves. He hasn’t shown improvement, but he has shown he can handle a larger workload.

Ricky Rubio still can’t shoot, with splits of .351/.292/.815, which is very close to his career line. He’s having one of his healthier years, which is great.

Minnesota could be a terrific team in a few years, but they aren’t right now. This should be an easy Raptors victory.

After the All-Star break, the Toronto Raptors hit the road for the last game of the road trip to play the 26-21 Chicago Bulls.

Pau Gasol is playing fantastic basketball at 35 years of age. Gasol is averaging 16.7 points, 10.9 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2 blocks in 31.8 minutes per game.

Jimmy Butler does not rest. Jimmy Butler’s one of the best. Jimmy Butler’s followed up his breakout season a year ago with an even better one.

Butler’s averaging 22.4 points, 5.3 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 1.7 steals and nearly a block per game in 38.3 minutes.

Chicago is a dangerous team. Despite the injuries and inconsistencies around them, the Bulls are currently fifth in the East, largely due to the play of Butler and Gasol.

Next: Denver Nuggets 112 - Raptors 93: Did they switch jerseys?

This will be a difficult game, but it’s one the Raptors should win.

* Team stats courtesy of espn.com, all player stats courtesy of basketball-reference.com

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