The Toronto Raptors have had bad luck this season in their only two scheduled matchups against the Golden State Warriors.
Facing the league’s top team under any circumstance will make for a tough test, but being forced to get ready for them as part of a back-to-back set makes for a particularly stiff challenge.
Back in mid-November, the Raptors had the misfortune of running into the Cleveland Cavaliers first then the Warriors with both games predictably resulting in losses. Starting Wednesday night, Toronto will be in Oakland to play the Warriors and then will have to play the Phoenix Suns on Thursday.
Playing the last two seasons’ NBA finalists on a back-to-back puts the Raptors between a rock and a hard place. There was no compromise to be found other than just play everyone as hard as possible in both games and hope for the best. By contrast, this upcoming back-to-back offers an alternative worth thinking about.
Whereas the Warriors and Cavaliers are both elite teams, the Suns are anything but, struggling mightily this season with the league’s fourth-worst record at 9-22.
Seeing this, does it not make sense for the Raptors to basically punt their contest against the Warriors by resting their starters and most of their key rotation players and just focus on getting a win against the Suns?
The are a couple advantages of doing such a thing:
First off, the Raptors have had a hard time finding rest for Kyle Lowry and this would be a golden opportunity to do so. Lowry’s averaging the third-most minutes per game of any player in the league so far and given how he’s appeared to break down after the all-star break for the past two seasons any chance to give the all-star point guard some extra time off would be a good idea.
Even giving DeMar DeRozan a night off wouldn’t be such a bad thing as he’s playing the 16th-most minutes per night in the NBA, and while he is only 15 points shy of becoming Toronto’s all-time leading scorer, it isn’t like he’s in any great rush to reach the milestone. It’s definitely going to happen.
Secondly, looking at the schedules of both Golden State and Phoenix you see that Wednesday’s game is the first one the Dubs will be playing since their Christmas Day thriller against the Cavaliers, while the Suns are playing the Raptors on the second end of a back-to-back themselves on Thursday.
So not only will the Raptors have to play Warriors – who, by the way, are pissed off over the last two-minute report from the Christmas Day game – they have to play them on a little extra rest, making the possibility of a win that much slimmer.
Overall, it just makes more sense to try to get that Phoenix game over the one against Golden State. It’s simply the safer option.
Why try to gun for the big Warriors win and still likely come up short and risk endangering what should be a sure thing against the lowly Suns?
It’s clear what the high-percentage option is. Whether the Raptors choose to go with it, we’ll find out when the ball tips at Oracle Arena.