The Toronto Raptors have cultivated one of the best team cultures in the NBA – but even they fall victim to the occasional lull.
Boy, did they need a wake-up call after their brief two-game road trip against the Brooklyn Nets and New Orleans Pelicans. They allowed their opponents to score at least 40 in the first quarter of both games, which unsurprisingly led to two losses.
After their 114-105 defeat against the Nets, the veterans on the team reportedly held a players-only meeting before heading back to Toronto to host the Orlando Magic in less than 24 hours.
Via Josh Lewenberg of TSN:
“Nobody really likes to be harping, yelling, cussing or fussing around here so I think some things just go unsaid [sometimes],” Fred VanVleet told TSN. “And there are times when you need to say it out loud, let people know what our standards are around here and just tighten the ship a little bit. We’re not going to win all the games, we know that, but there’s certain ways that you want to [play] every night and those two games were just unacceptable.”
16-year veteran Thaddeus Young was vocal on the message from said meeting: “come out and throw the first punch.”
It may have just been against a 5-win Magic side, but that's exactly what the Raptors did to come out in their 121-108 win over the Magic. They flipped the script on the first quarter with a 36-22 advantage on the visitors and used that early jump to complete a near wire-to-wire win.
Players-only meetings always do the trick.
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