Last season, the Toronto Raptors won a franchise-record 58 games on their way to their first NBA championship. That team, you may recall, had two-time Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard leading the charge. As much load as Kawhi managed throughout the regular season, the fact that the 2019-20 Raptors are on pace to eclipse that season's win total — and are firmly back in the championship mix — is arguably more impressive, and certainly more improbable.
On Saturday night, the Raptors — on the second leg of a back-to-back and without All-Star point guard Kyle Lowry (whiplash) — hung tough at home to stave off the Brooklyn Nets, 119-118. Fred VanVleet dropped 24 points and rookie Terence Davis, in his second career start, more than adequately replaced Lowry's scoring with 20 points of his own. It was just the latest unlikely but admirable Raptors win, and marked the team's franchise-record 14th consecutive victory. In a season that wasn't necessarily expected to feature any sort of real attempt at defending the title, the defending champs are now second in the East and own a .735 winning percentage (39-14).
Led by head coach Nick Nurse and driven by chemistry, cohesiveness, and high-level execution, the Raps continue to find all sorts of different ways to win ballgames. Over the course of the winning streak, they've won games close and in blowout fashion, against teams good and bad, on the home and road, and done so with a balanced attack.
The Raptors have boasted one of the league's premier defenses all season, ranking second behind the Milwaukee Bucks in defensive rating (104.9). But during the ongoing win streak, it has been their offense that has picked up and propelled them to so much success. They've failed to reach 110 points just twice over the past 14 contests, and they have the best offensive rating and eFG% in basketball over that stretch. Here are some raw numbers for Toronto's four top scorers over the team's past 14 games:
- Kyle Lowry: 17.5 PPG, 4.6 RPG, 6.5 APG, 8.3 +/-
- Pascal Siakam: 20.8 PPG, 6.9 RPG
- Fred VanVleet: 17.8 PPG, 46.9% 3PT, 6.7 APG
- Serge Ibaka: 17.4 PPG, 57.4 FG% (43.1% 3PT), 6.6 RPG
Not everything is perfect. Notably, Siakam struggled to get good looks in crunch time vs. Brooklyn and generally continues to be ineffective when their offense depends on him to create out of isolation opportunities. His shot is still inconsistent. But their scoring balance is rare, especially considering each one of those players brings stellar defense as well (along with OG Anunoby, Marc Gasol, and basically everyone in their rotation).
Ibaka, in particular, has raised his game in recent weeks and has been a terror on both ends:
The Raptors are clearly one of the best coached teams in basketball, and they have fostered a culture and system that continues to develop players at impressive rates — such as Fred VanVleet and Siakam. Continuity and execution, championship pedigree, consistent effort, and a winning culture can go a long way in the dregs of the NBA regular season, and a team with good habits can rack up a lot of unremarkable wins over the course of the campaign just by being better at the little things. This has always been the Spurs Way, but the defending champs may be exemplifying that better than anyone at the moment.
With an immensely steep drop-off from No. 6 to No. 7 in the East, all these good habits may earn the Toronto Raptors a much smoother path to the second round, and who knows just when they'll actually lose again.
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