The Toronto Raptors are still the standalone team atop the NBA. Sitting with an overall record of 19-4 and are winners of seven straight. How did each Raptor fare individually this week? We’ll take a look.
What a week in and around Toronto. The Toronto Raptors are winners of their last six, and we’re starting to see more glimpses of the team’s real potential, including a second-half comeback against Memphis where the defense looked outstanding, holding Conley and Co. to 43 second-half points.
What’s even more outstanding about that game is Fred going perfect from the field, 6-6 for 18 points in 21 minutes, a plus-8 on the night. The only plus net rating for a bench player too. The struggles of the second unit continue.
Earlier in the week, we saw home wins against a porous Washington team void of any team kinship and an equally uninspired Miami team, the Toronto offensive unit racking up 125 points each night. We also saw the debut of the new Nike City edition uniforms against the Wizards. Regardless of how you may feel about them, I love them.
The Warriors came to town on Thursday evening for a primetime billing that did not disappoint, even with Curry and Green sidelined for the visitors. Kevin Durant pulled 51 points out his bag of tricks while Kawhi went for a season-high 37 points in an overtime thriller. The Raptors won by the way, in case you didn’t already know. If this is a preview for a potential Finals match-up, you can just inject it into my veins immediately. The Raptors survived but made this game entertaining throughout.
Finally, we saw Kawhi Leonard receive his first ever technical foul in regular season hoops. That’s astounding; one can only wonder what he said to a ref. That’s not my place to speculate.
The big question is though; what did we see from the Raptors this week? Who flourished and who floundered?
Let’s find out!