It has been a wildly disappointing year for the team up north that is playing down south this year. Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse shared his thoughts before their game on Thursday against the Chicago Bulls, per Josh Lewenberg of TSN.
“I'm not sure it could get any funkier this year than it's gotten,” Nurse commented. “I mean when you think, come on, there's just nothing else that can happen here, something else comes up.”
The “Tampa Bay” Raptors have had a roller coaster ride of a season, to say the least. The home-court advantage has been reduced this season with the limited number of fans physically allowed in arenas. However, the Raptors are playing nowhere near their home arena, let alone home country.
The team has been hit with more injuries and health-related concerns than most and just recently Fred VanVleet and DeAndre Bembry were slapped with one-game suspensions for leaving the bench during the incident in the Los Angeles Lakers game.
The Raptors followed that up by losing their most recent contest versus the Bulls, 122-113. This was a crucial loss, as the Raptors and Bulls are ranked 11th and 10th, respectively in the Eastern Conference. Both teams are in contention for the play-in portion of the playoffs.
Despite the loss, a silver lining is the impressive performance of the team's bigs Chris Boucher and Pascal Siakam. The former had a monstrous 38 points and 19 boards, while the latter dropped 27 points, eight rebounds, and three blocks.
Boucher is an interesting player who spends time at the five spot, can protect the rim, and hits the deep ball well enough, but he weighs in at just 200 pounds. There are some guards heavier than that. Siakam has been inconsistent at times, but at his best, he is a dynamic, do-it-all forward. The Raptors will have to try and right the wrongs the rest of the way if they want to make a push to just get into the playoffs.
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