The Toronto Raptors are back from the Christmas break after wins against Cleveland and Miami sandwiched a loss against the Sixers. How did each player fare individually, though?
Welcome back. It’s lonely without you guys. Christmas was good here, I hope it was for you too. Something was missing though, wasn’t it? The Toronto Raptors were once again left off of the Christmas Day schedule, I’m not annoyed because we see it every year. It’s just there’s now more than ever, the Raptors deserve to be playing on Christmas Day. The Raptors, at full strength, have proved to be the best team in the NBA.
But maybe that’s just it, the Raptors aren’t at full health now. It’s not even close. Ibaka returned from a short lay-off against the Heat on Boxing Day, Kyle Lowry has been in and out of the team too, he missed games against Cleveland and Miami, with a start against Philadelphia sandwiched in between the two. Even Danny Green missed the win against Cleveland.
If the Raptors came out shorthanded against Philadelphia on Christmas Day and got blown out, I couldn’t begin to imagine the hot takes and rash opinions of casual viewers. Not that it would matter though, but let me get frustrated by the peanut gallery, just this once.
Despite the weakened roster, the Raptors had a fairly strong showing this week. Only playing three games due to the Christmas snub (yes, I’m doing it) Toronto had wins against Cleveland, where Kawhi reminded everyone just how good he really is, but we already know that. OG Anunoby also had his best game of the season and even Lorenzo Brown looked good.
The follow up in Philadelphia was to be expected. Kawhi sat out on the second night of a back-to-back, Serge Ibaka was also missing again and Kyle Lowry was back in the lineup after a four-game lay-off. Lowry looked good but had to take on a lot of the offense, it was always going to be a tough night against one of the best teams in the East, but we did see a few good performances, namely Norm Powell who is beginning to put the pieces back together.
The Raptors were down big in Miami on Wednesday night, turning the ball over 16 times throughout the game and struggling to get anything going in the first half it looked like the game was a write off early in the third quarter with Toronto down 17. The comeback ensued with a 37-point third quarter followed by some stifling defense from Toronto. The game came down to the final moments and Serge Ibaka found Danny Green wide open for the three-pointer. Ball Game.
The Raptors progress to 26-10 with favourable games against the Magic and Bulls up next. But let’s see who did the business this week.