The Toronto Raptors should blame the circumstances for poor season

The Toronto Raptors might as well wrap up their 2020-21 season, as they are one Indiana Pacers win or one more loss of their own away from being officially eliminated from the postseason. The Raptors even staying alive in the hunt this long is a minor miracle, as they have been battling bad luck from the start.

The Raptors, the league’s only Canadian team, have been playing home games in one of the league’s southernmost spots in Tampa. Playing at Amalie Arena and practicing in makeshift workout areas is very much a subpar situation that presented the Raptors with some unique challenges.

The loss against the Memphis Grizzlies might not have officially driven the nail in the coffin, but it was the latest in a series of increasingly frustrating losses for a Raptors team that is reverting to the snakebitten trends that hampered this franchise for their first decade of existence.

As much of a cop-out as this might sound like, the Raptors season might need to get an asterisk next to it. They have had some horrid moments on the court that contributed to this slide in the standings, but the Raptors have been put in a scenario that is almost impossible to succeed in. It’s just not the same without Scotiabank Arena.

This Toronto Raptors season has been doomed from the start.

From the beginning of the season, Toronto started off cold, though painful losses to Golden State and Portland on last-second misses proved that there had to be some voodoo hex that some witch doctor placed on this team. After a brief spurt, their luck started to run out thanks to the pandemic.

Players like Pascal Siakam, OG Anunoby, Fred VanVleet, and Malachi Flynn all ended up the health and safety protocols, which helped contribute to a month of March in which the Raptors won just one game. COVID-19 has hurt teams all around the league, but Toronto’s horror story has to be among the league’s worst.

With these players clearly hampered upon their return, not to mention emotionally exhausted from playing an entire season on the road, Toronto’s roster deficiencies. The New Orleans Hornets went through the same exact thing when they relocated to Oklahoma City for two years due to Hurricane Katrina, and they also missed the playoffs twice.

Everything that could have gone wrong for the Raptors did go wrong this year, as they were playing under a completely different set of rules when compared to the rest of the league. Yes, they struggled on the court for tangible reasons, but playing this entire season amid all this chaos had to be draining.