The Toronto Raptors’ season appears to have gone off the rails, with the team having lost eight games in a row and 10 of its past 11.
These mighty struggles come right as the the NBA enters the always-hectic NBA trade deadline week, with the deadline itself arriving on Thursday at 3:00 p.m. ET.
As a result, the Raptors’ faithful are in a tizzy, with many calling on the team to sell at the deadline and try to tank for a better draft pick. There’s a bit of a problem with this stratagem, however.
The Raptors take on the lowly Houston Rockets -- losers of 20 straight -- Monday night at 9:00 p.m. ET on Sportsnet ONE.
So, if there’s any team Toronto is going to snap its losing streak against, it’s going to be Houston.
Here are three things to watch for in a battle between the NBA’s two coldest teams.
March "Sadness"
Stoppable force, meet movable object.
The Raptors and the Rockets own the NBA's two longest active losing streaks at eight and 20, respectively, but the misery will end -- at least momentarily -- for one of these teams Monday night.
And more than anything, boy, do both coaches need to get a win here. Take a look at these images of Nick Nurse and Stephen Silas as proof:
Monday night will be a battle of bad and sad. Hope y’all are ready for it.
Trade deadline looms large for both clubs
Far more important than just trying to snap losing streaks for these two teams is how a win or loss may impact their trade deadline strategy.
For the Rockets, it’s much clearer as all they’re competing for right now is the No. 1 overall pick in this year’s draft. You can expect a healthy dose of Victor Oladipo in the game, as Houston will continue to showcase him to try to find an amicable trade partner.
The Raptors’ situation, as much as some of the fan base would disagree, is a little more complicated. A win tonight could potentially pull them within just a half-game of the play-in tournament and drag them further away from the true bottom of the league -- where you’d want to be if you’re actually trying to tank.
So, if the Raptors are truly trying to punt this season, how they perform against the Rockets on Monday could be telling.
If Toronto’s looking to drop down the standings, we might have an ugly case of “who wants it least” on our hands.
The Flynn era has arrived?
In case you’re looking to see something resembling actually-competitive basketball, pay close attention to Malachi Flynn.
The Raptors rookie has finally gotten some run in these past two games, and hopefully that trend will continue as he needs reps if he’s going to develop.
At the very least, this ought to make Malachi’s father happy after his outspoken post complaining about his son’s lack of playing time, in which he compared the young man to NFL superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
Not sure on the whole Flynn-Mahomes comparison, but it’s still a good sign for the Raptors’ future that Flynn is getting some much-needed NBA experience as, one way or another, Kyle Lowry is on his way out. The Raptors will need a reliable backup to Fred VanVleet.
