Toronto Raptors: Wild Western Conference and a potentially healthy roster await them in March

Finally at full strength?

It was mentioned before that the NBA season is entering the stretch run. What is important about the stretch run is making sure players stay healthy before the playoffs and that any injured players get healthy beforehand. Toronto’s season has been filled with injuries and nothing has changed on that front coming into March. The hope is that these injured players can return to the court and get in a rhythm so they are ready for the postseason.

Marc Gasol is perhaps the biggest injury the Raptors have their eye on. Gasol has been battling a left hamstring injury that he reaggravated back in January. He hasn’t played since and it’s apparent that Toronto wants to be extra cautious in bringing him back. Serge Ibaka and Chris Boucher have played very well during his absence, but having Gasol’s size and intelligence down low is something Toronto misses currently, and will use to their advantage come postseason.

Gasol still has the “out indefinitely” tag on him, but his return could be coming soon. It is likely that even though the Raptors want to be cautious, they still want him to get the rust off and get back into playing shape well before the postseason. Having him return to action in the next couple of weeks gives him about a month and a half of rest, but still allows him time to get in the flow of things again. This is just a prediction, but don’t be surprised if it comes to fruition.

Norman Powell was dealing with a broken left finger for most of February but made his return to action in the Raptors’ final game of that month against the Charlotte Hornets. He played fairly well in his return, scoring 22 points in 36 minutes. There was some rust, obviously, that he needs to shake off but still it was good to see him back out there on the floor.

Powell has proven to be a spark plug when he comes off the bench. He’s even played well when plugged in as a starter, scoring 17.5 points when in the starting rotation. He has had a career year, but it has been underappreciated because he has missed chunks of time with injuries.

Powell has had to miss long periods this season because of injuries. He missed time after hurting his shoulder against the Detroit Pistons in December. He came back from that injury in January, only to suffer the broken finger against the Pistons two weeks later. Powell has had bad luck against Detroit this year. It might be in the best interest of the Raptors to sit him when they play them for the final time on March 14.

It would be nice if the Raptors could finally get to full strength this month. They haven’t played at full strength for much of the season and have still been a top-tier team. If they can have all their pieces healthy and playing well at some point this month, it gives them the chance to peak at the right time and head into the playoffs with synergy and momentum. Last year is a perfect example of how peaking at the right time can lead to very favourable results (a championship).

March will be an important month for the Toronto Raptors. Seeing how they fare against the Western Conference, particularly the top teams in the Lakers and Nuggets will show them just how good they are. Beating the Nuggets and Lakers twice (hopefully) is something other NBA teams can’t overlook. They have a 12-7 record against the west as of now, which is decent, but not great. They have the opportunity to improve that record this month and that five-game road trip against the west gives them the perfect chance to do that.

Getting the team completely healthy is also critical this month. The playoffs are coming, and the Raptors haven’t had many games to gain cohesion with the team at full strength. March is the last full month to tune-up for the postseason, so Toronto needs to get these players back so they can get a solidified rotation in place. If Toronto can put it all together healthwise in March, they should be feared by their opponents come mid-April.