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Toronto Raptors: 3 reasons to watch for the rest of the season

By Kahfeel Buchanan

TAMPA, FLORIDA - JANUARY 04: The Toronto Raptors huddle (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
TAMPA, FLORIDA - JANUARY 04: The Toronto Raptors huddle (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images) /
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TAMPA, FLORIDA – MARCH 19: Fred VanVleet #23 of the Toronto Raptors and Donovan Mitchell #45 of the Utah Jazz  (Photo by Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images)
TAMPA, FLORIDA – MARCH 19: Fred VanVleet #23 of the Toronto Raptors and Donovan Mitchell #45 of the Utah Jazz  (Photo by Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images) /

Reason No. 2: Every Raptors game matters

Every game they play going forward will have a huge effect on playoff seeding. The No. 4 and No. 7 seeds in the conference are separated by just a half-game. It’s also much easier to make the playoffs in the East than the West.

There are 29 games left, and Toronto is 18-26. Although they’re fresh off of a nine-game losing streak, they’ve only lost 3 of those games when Pascal Siakam, Fred VanVleet, and OG Anunoby have all been on the court.

The Raptors can still win some games this year

Fred VanVleet and Kyle Lowry have already proved their mental toughness. As the leaders of the team, they will make sure this team makes a playoff push or goes down while giving other teams hell.

The rest of the team have legitimate things to play for also. Norman Powell needs to keep performing so that he can land a big contract in the offseason. Siakiam, Anunoby, and Aron Baynes need to play well or Masai Ujiri might consider moving one of them. Even Nick Nurse needs to prove that he can win without a championship roster.