After a blowout 135-92 win against the Chicago Bulls in their season opener, the Toronto Raptors faced a much tougher challenge. They had to go up against the new-look Washington Wizards, led by All-Stars Trae Young and Anthony Davis.
The Raptors dominated the paint with 52 points and won the turnover battle, but they also sent the Wizards to the free-throw line 35 times and didn’t shoot well. Toronto shot 44% from the field and just 21% on 3-pointers.
Nevertheless, the Raptors were able to grind out a 112-102 win behind strong defense and a 28-point, 14-rebound performance from Scottie Barnes.
“When you’re shooting 20% from the 3-point line, definitely the fight and finding a way to get a win tonight was very, very important,” head coach Darko Rajakovic said in the postgame media availability.
With a tougher Eastern Conference competition than last season and lingering offensive concerns, the Raptors will have to win more games like this. Doing it early in the season is a valuable experience that should prepare the Raptors for bigger moments further down the line.
RJ Barrett called it a “nasty” win in his media availability. The Raptors certainly have plenty to improve on—especially their fouls and turnovers—but it’s still good to start the season 2-0, even if one of those wins was not pretty.
The Raptors will have to fight through many close wins this season
The Eastern Conference has changed a lot since last season. Teams like the Wizards, Philadelphia 76ers, and Miami Heat acquired stars at the trade deadline or during the offseason. Others, like the Indiana Pacers, are getting stars back from injury. Moreover, the new draft lottery rules mean fewer teams will be tanking. Really, the only teams that have zero incentive to win this season and don’t have to worry about the relegation zone are the ones that don’t own their first-round picks, like the Milwaukee Bucks and Brooklyn Nets.
Moreover, the Raptors’ 3-point shooting is bound to fail them more than once this season. Even with Kawhi Leonard in the mix and Jamison Battle logging some more minutes than last season, the Raptors look like a subpar 3-point shooting team. Kawhi Leonard, Immanuel Quickley, and Ja’Kobe Walter hopefully won’t all shoot between 25 and 29% from deep for much longer, but the Raptors are short on knockdown shooters even if all three find their rhythm soon.
So, they don’t just have to be prepared for a season full of close games, but they also have to be ready to grind out wins behind their defense and paint scoring if their outside shots are not falling.
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