February is in the books as the Toronto Raptors completed what could have been the best month in franchise history. How do they follow that up in March?
It was a February filled with surprises. The Toronto Raptors went nearly unbeaten, dropping only one lone game against the Orlando Magic; they completed big deals, acquiring three-time All-Star Marc Gasol and the Godfather of Linsanity, Jeremy Lin; and they watched their young-star, Pascal Siakam ball out, recording a career-high 44 points just before the All-Star break.
Toronto beat playoff teams in the Clippers, Philadelphia, and San Antonio. They blew out Boston by nearly 30 points to cap off the month.
And yet, Raptors nation remains vigilant. They are happy, but not entirely impressed. Is it because they lost to the Magic in a game that exposed their lack of chemistry? Or is it that Gasol, their biggest acquisition, still looks out of place on offense? Or is it because Milwaukee and Indiana were just as good?
But maybe it’s because we’re approaching the playoffs.
March is the penultimate month before the postseason and this is when teams usually jockey to find their playoff spots.
Toronto is 2.5 games behind Milwaukee. That may not seem like much, but with only 20 games remaining, the team will have to be near flawless to recapture the top seed.
Getting that top seed will give the Raptors homecourt advantage throughout the Eastern Conference playoffs, which will be huge for the team. But it’s not everything.
It’s about matchups. Philadelphia and Boston are in the 4th and 5th spots, respectively. It behooves Toronto to manipulate the matchups and stay in the two-spot as a long as Indiana is able to hold onto that elusive third seed.
Either way, the Raptors have plenty of work to do. With almost half of last year’s playoff team gone, the team has many moving pieces. Players like Gasol, Lin, and other bench players like 905 call-ups Malcolm Miller and Chris Boucher have yet to establish their place in the offense.
Nick Nurse has his work cut out for him. March is where the team has to work out the kinks and get everyone up to speed. Fortunately, Toronto’s slate isn’t too tough. These five matchups will serve as a nice litmus test to see where the team is.