The Toronto Raptors are coming off two mega weekend wins, with their 119-108 victory over Detroit on Sunday being the biggest victory of the season. They desperately needed it, especially after an alarming trend that Alex Speers highlighted on an episode of the Saturday Slam N Jam:
"The Raptors have fallen into the play-in, having lost six of their last eight. In fact, going back even further, the Raptors haven't beaten a team in the top 10 of either conference since January 25."
That accounted for their games after their Jan. 25 win over the Thunder and before their win over the Suns on Friday, which broke their losing streak against teams in the top 10.
If the Raptors look more like the team they were over the weekend for the remainder of the season and into the playoffs, they'll surprise a lot of people. Fans know better than to put too much hope into that, though.
Raptors' ugly streak is over, but the concerns persist
Every game will matter for Toronto as it hopes to avoid the play-in tournament entirely. The Raptors could maybe even reach the No. 4 seed in the East, giving them home-court advantage. What will be key for them down the stretch will be their defense. They're top-ten in that category (No. 7) in the NBA, but they have a below-average offense (No. 19).
Toronto lacks a true go-to scorer who can consistently take over games. They don't have nearly enough shooting in general, specifically from deep, averaging 11.4 threes per game (25th in the league) on 33 attempts (25th). Overall, they're shooting 34.5% from three, 26th.
In Friday's win over the Suns, they shot 14-of-27 from deep (52%), which helped them rally. Of course, Brandon Ingram's 36 points (5-of-6 from three) and RJ Barrett's 22 points had something to do with it, too. The latter shot just 1-of-4 from deep, but 9-of-16 from the field.
Two days later, against Detroit, Toronto shot 8-of-28 from three (28%), but that was enough to beat a Pistons team that lacks scoring outside of Cade Cunningham. Ingram had another 30+ outing with 34 points (12-of-25), and Barrett added 27 (11-of-17).
That was the kind of win that the Raptors need to use as a turning point as they fight to stay in the top six in the East. They're just 2.5 games behind the No. 4 Cavaliers, but only a half game ahead of the No. 7 Heat, and 1.5 games ahead of the No. 8 Hawks and No. 9 Sixers.
At least their remaining schedule is on their side, but if Toronto's struggles against top teams persist (it will play Denver, Boston, New York, Detroit, and Orlando before the season ends), the team won't have much of a chance in the playoffs.
Let's see if they can carry the momentum from Sunday's win into the next stretch of the schedule, starting with tomorrow's game in Chicago. The real test will be on Friday in Denver. A win over the Nuggets at high altitude would do wonders.