There have been a few impressive ‘signature’ wins for the Raptors. Some think of the overtime comeback win against the Golden State Warriors, or the road win over the Oklahoma City Thunder, where the Raptors put the defensive clamps on in the fourth quarter.
Sunday night’s win over the Magic told a different story — one that would go down in the record books for both teams. The Toronto Raptors went on a 31-0 run in the first half en route to a 139-87 blowout win against the struggling Magic. This margin falls one point shy of a franchise record for largest win which was set back in 2021 against the Golden State Warriors.
This would go down as the largest unanswered scoring run in the play-by-play era, which dates back to 1996-97. The dismantling loss for the Magic would also mark their biggest loss in franchise history, as they have not lost a game by more than 50 points.
Make no mistake about it, this win is as big of a statement win as the Raptors could achieve at this point in the season — even if it’s against an Orlando squad that’s been on a downward spiral. The Magic came into this game losing six of their last seven games, depleted with injuries and struggling to defend at the level they usually do. The Raptors are also banged up, coming off a tough road trip where they went 2-3.
Both teams came into this game battling for positioning within the Eastern Conference playoffs as only two games separated the fifth and eighth seed. The Raptors needed this win since the surging Atlanta Hawks and Philadelphia 76ers notched wins on Sunday, while the Charlotte Hornets fell to the San Antonio Spurs. It goes without saying that this loss does not fare well for the Magic’s seeding in the postseason.
So how did the Raptors pull off one of the most dominant performances we’ve seen in recent memory? The run all began midway through the first when the Raptors were a bit stagnant on offense, down 20-14. Several key turnovers initiated the landslide scoring run as the Raptors found themselves up 25 points without allowing the Magic to score.
Raptors forced 12 turnovers within a 7 minute span that led to the 31-0 run
It’s not often that you see a team force 28 turnovers within a game, which is what the Raptors accomplished against the Magic. In doing so, the Raptors made them pay with 37 points scored off those turnovers. For context, the Portland Trail Blazers turn the ball over more than any other team, averaging 17.4 per game.
Head coach Jamahl Mosley spoke post-game and tried to explain how a team gets to a 52 point loss: "I got to do a better job of preparing them for what they were going to see tonight. I’ve got to have them prepared for the physicality of the game. Prepared for how much they were going to grab hold and get us off of our spots…knowing exactly the sense of urgency that Toronto was gonna play with having guys out… knowing the positioning that we were in [for playoffs]."
This was an all-around team effort for the Raptors in a pivotal matchup down the stretch, without two of their starters. Whether it came from Jamal Shead’s forced turnovers or Sandro Mamukelashvili’s threes during the run, every player stepped up when called upon. Five Raptors players finished with three steals as the team tallied 20 overall. Not to mention, the Raptors ran it down their throats with 39 fast break points compared to the Magic’s seven in that regard.
Next up for the Raptors, a trip to Detroit on Tuesday as they take on the first seeded Pistons without Cade Cunningham.