The Toronto Raptors are 1-4 over their last five games and now back at the .500 mark, a spot they’ve been hovering around all season. Those are facts, but facts without context aren’t particularly insightful. It would behoove anyone looking to brush off the Raptors as a legitimately good team amid those recent struggles to examine the actual games themselves.
Aside from the odd goose egg against the Detroit Pistons in which Toronto lost by 16, every single one of these defeats has been by a margin of five points or less. Indeed, the Raptors fought tooth and nail against the likes of the Phoenix Suns (leading the West), Miami Heat (an Eastern Conference contender) and Dallas Mavericks (have won 10 of their last 11 games), holding ground against some of the league’s elite. They got a fantastic win against the Giannis Antetokounmpo and the defending-champion Milwaukee Bucks on the road, too.
“There are hardly any teams coming into these places and winning,” head coach Nick Nurse said after Wednesday's road loss to the Mavericks. “I think we’re making a lot of progress, we’re playing our guts out. We needed one of those open threes to go and we might’ve snuck out of there with one.”
Expectations have varied wildly for the Raptors prior to and over the course of the season, but most would agree they aren’t targeting the same goals as those clubs. There should be no surprise, no eye-rolling at the outcome of games against the likes of championship contenders and surefire playoff teams. Pragmatically, Toronto digging in its heels and nearly stealing games against top-tier opponents should have everyone elated.
Not to mention that this is all occurring with multiple key members of the rotation unable to suit up. The loss of Gary Trent Jr., Khem Birch and Yuta Watanabe (still ramping back up after exiting health and safety protocols) is, in a word, significant, and the resulting effects (such as the starters playing heavy minutes) are, too.
“Our guys played a really good game,” Nurse said of his team's 102-98 defeat to Dallas. “I don’t know why I’m sensing so much negativity here from everybody, but our guys played their guts out here tonight against a team that’s 10-1 in their last 11.”
Understandably, however, when a team is that close to winning games, there are going to be a plethora of shoulda, woulda, coulda conversations. Should Scottie Barnes have guarded Luka Doncic more tightly before he buried a dagger triple? Yes. Would the Raptors have won more of these games had they been fully healthy? Likely. Could Nurse have utilized more of the available rotation? He could have.
Ultimately, the adage of Fred VanVleet echoes: “It is what it is.”
At this point in time, the Raptors are an injured, young, thin-at-the-margins team with an incredibly impressive core that has come up short against some of the best the league has to offer (largely on the road), withstanding it all—and we would do well to remember it.
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