It’s been a rough month for the Toronto Raptors.
The team’s won just once in 12 tries as it has dealt with COVID-19 protocols, an emotional mid-season trade and outright bad play at times.
Despite this funk, the Raptors still find themselves just two games back of the Chicago Bulls for the 10th place in the Eastern Conference, the final play-in tournament spot.
And now, with the trade deadline behind them and the buyout market quickly coming to a close, it looks like the team as constructed now will be what head coach Nick Nurse and his staff have to work with as they hit the stretch run towards the end of the season.
Thankfully for the Raptors, they only have two more games before this nightmare of a month comes to a close, beginning with Monday evening’s road affair with the Detroit Pistons at 8:00 p.m. ET on Sportsnet ONE.
Here’s a look at three things to watch as you settle in for the game Monday night.
Need to hit their stride
As mentioned before, the Raptors can turn things around as they're only two games back for 10th-place in the East, but they’re running out of time to make a run here with only 26 games left, including Monday’s game in Detroit.
It’s been a struggle for the Raptors to find their footing all season long with so many factors at play, such as the move to Tampa, dealing with a COVID situation among the team, injuries and now a trade.
Nurse and Co. will have to get two new bodies -- who figure to play a lot of minutes for the team down the stretch -- up to speed as fast as possible.
There’s no time anymore, the Raptors need to start stringing together some wins.
“It's like we can't sit here and wait. We can't wait. It's like you gotta play a rookie player or a freshman player in college, you can’t really wait because the games are coming and you’ve got to do the best you can while you go,” said Nurse. “We can't use that as an excuse.”
Bad defence has led to this bad stretch
If the Raptors are going to start winning some ball games again it’s going to have to start with getting back to their defensive identity.
All the caveats already mentioned aside, the Raptors have allowed teams to score 117.5 points per 100 possessions during the month of March, an abysmal defensive rating that would rank them as the second-worst defence in the NBA if stretched out over the course of the full season.
You’re not going to win many games if you’re letting teams score on you, essentially, at-will.
The calling card of the Raptors under Nurse has been their chaotic-but-controlled, multiple-look, switching, scrambling defence. But, whether it be because of the personnel the Raptors have or perhaps because there hasn’t been a lot of practice time this season, the Raptors’ defence has just been chaotic in the sense that coverages are too often blown or someone might over-rotate leaving a man open far too often.
Injury report
Kyle Lowry was a late scratch in Sunday’s game against the Portland Trail Blazers with a sore right foot and is listed as questionable for Monday’s contest.
By the sounds of things, the uncertain status of Lowry may persist from game-to-game.
“It’s not maybe that long a thing but it’s a bit of a recurring thing so we gotta keep an eye on it,” said Nurse of Lowry’s injury.
Additionally, the Raptors will once again be dealing with some missing players on Monday as DeAndre’ Bembry and Paul Watson Jr. remain unavailable in health and safety protocols.
Nurse said over the weekend that the situation these two face “is not the same” as when Pascal Siakam, Fred VanVleet, OG Anunoby, Malachi Flynn and Patrick McCaw were in COVID protocols, but the missed games certainly seem similar.
McCaw also remains out Monday with left knee swelling and rookie Jalen Harris has been added to Toronto’s walking wounded, missing Monday’s game with a right hip pointer.
As things currently stand, if Lowry can’t play, the Raptors will only have 10 men available to them in Detroit.
