Toronto Raptors: Stock Take, plus Kyle Lowry has a great week

The Toronto Raptors split a fairly quiet week with a win and a loss. Whose stock rose during the week and who took a hit?

If you’re counting the Toronto Raptors are into the third week of the season and we’re now in our third edition of “Stock Take”. Time really flies by when you’re the reigning NBA champions and everyone is trying to claw for a piece of you.

The third week of the NBA season didn’t bring about much for the Toronto Raptors, though. Following on from a successful week last week, Nick Nurse’s team only played in two games: a trip to the Fiserv Forum to take on the Milwaukee Bucks and a home tie against the struggling Sacramento Kings.

We got enough of a look at the Raptors though, and the champs split their two games this week to take their season record to a 5-2 with a perfect home record. While they might not be the title-contending force of last season, the Scotiabank Arena is still a cauldron and, on its night, can be an atmosphere like no other.

That wouldn’t be enough to get the Raptors over the line all season, though. The Bucks were looking for revenge after their humiliation in the Eastern Conference Finals last year where they dropped four games in a row. They got a slice of revenge, but in Game 6 of the season, it doesn’t have that same ring to it.

The Bucks won this round, but the ball still belongs to the Toronto Raptors – for now at least. The Raptors would rebound with a win against the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday night, all without really, well, rebounding.

A win is a win, and all of that, but the Raptors made this one tough. Fortunately, the optimist in me always tries to see the bright spots – and there were some – but also some less great moments.