Playing games at Scotiabank Arena has not provided the Toronto Raptors with the relief they had hoped it would.
After falling to the Memphis Grizzlies Tuesday night, the Raptors are now 2-8 on their home turf (and 3-10 over their last 13 contests). That game was supposed to signal the start of a turnaround for Toronto, who had just returned from a gruelling six-game road trip spent largely on the west coast, as it kicked off a stretch of seven-straight in Toronto.
“We gotta fix that,” Pascal Siakam told reporters post-game. “It’s not acceptable. We can’t play like that at home and I think we always say we have this fan base and all that, but we have to show up at home. We have to make it part of what we do and we gotta be better. No excuses, that can’t happen. … The fans don’t deserve that.”
Bizarrely, the Raptors’ performance on the road (where they are 7-5) sits in stark contrast to their disappointing results at home. In the 12 games played away from Scotiabank Arena, they have a 2.3 net rating (ranked 10th amongst all road records), a 53.9 true shooting percentage (18th), and a 50.7 rebounding percentage (10th).
At home, they’ve posted a measly -5.1 net rating (ranked 28th amongst all home records), a 51.7 true shooting percentage (28th), and a 49.6 rebounding percentage (20th).
By no means are the Raptors a megalithic force when standing on an opposing team’s hardwood, but the fact that they’re that much better is enough to leave fans (and club members) scratching their heads. No one’s projecting a top-four seed season from this particular squad, but it would appear that Toronto has probably been closer to its true self on the road (a low-level playoff team) than at home (a lottery team), especially when accounting for the injuries that have recently piled up.
“It’s tough,” Pascal Siakam said. “Obviously two guys [OG Anunoby and Gary Trent Jr.] that can score the ball. But the identity of all the teams we’ve had is always about next man up. That can’t be an excuse. … We hope those guys come back quick but we gotta figure it out and we all gotta step up.”
Perhaps the weirdest context to this situation, however, is how the Raptors spent last season. That was, of course, away from Toronto for a 72-game slog in Tampa that weighed heavily on the shoulders of players, coaches, and front office members alike.
That experience, whether fairly or unfairly, developed expectations that a typical season spent at home would vault the Raptors right back into the thick of the playoff race where they had been a mere year prior.
There’s still plenty of time for Toronto to turn things around at home this season, but for that to happen in earnest, they’ll have to start playing like they’re on the road.
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