The Toronto Raptors experienced 1-2 week, with injuries beginning to pile up for the team. Losses against Portland and Denver were followed by an improbable win against the Pacers. How did each player fare individually?
Tis the season for the injury bug. That’s the only fair way to categorise the Toronto Raptors performances in the past week, as the injuries for the team began to pile up.
Last week, we lost Jonas Valanciunas to a dislocated thumb – he’ll be out for at least four weeks, potentially six. Kyle Lowry has missed the last three games with a left thigh contusion, hopefully, he won’t be out for too long. Just when you think you’re out the woods, Serge Ibaka and Pascal Siakam both missed a game apiece. Serge missed the Wednesday night bout with the Pacers amid swelling in his right knee and Pascal was absent from the Sunday night loss against the Denver Nuggets with a back injury.
Toronto fell to a 1-2 week, with their record atop the NBA now at 24-9. Still impressive, the Raptors are projected to win 59 wins for the second season running, tying the franchise record. A shootout loss in Portland was compounded with a shoot-nowt loss in Denver, shoot-nowt?! Am I right or am I hilarious? I am both.
One thing that’s more surprising than the fact I assume no one is laughing right now is Toronto’s Wednesday night triumph against the Indiana Pacers, a game the Raptors had no business being in. Nick Nurse used all twelve players at his disposal, Kawhi Leonard undoubtedly the stand out player of the bunch, finishing with a 28-point double-double as he continues to make his case for MVP consideration.
The Raptors shot 23-percent from three throughout the game, their continued troubles from beyond the arc leave me in a quandary each night, whether the Raptors need to trade for some shooting or whether they can fix the issue internally (props to Brian Boake for this article), it’s fair to say that the shooting or lack thereof is a concern. Toronto ranks in the bottom half of the NBA for 3-point percentage, eugh. However, they do rank third in the NBA in effective field-goal percentage, in other words – Toronto is killing teams in every other facet of the game.
And now, we get to the exciting. Let’s look at who’s been on the naughty list and who’s been on the nice list.
Oh, I’m hanging my head in shame. I’m sorry.