When you play word association, the word that comes to mind when I hear ” Raptors ” is….. ” irrelevant “.
When you’ve been in business for almost two decades and you’ve won exactly one NBA playoff series, that should make your club or business as extinct as the dinosaur itself.
But in recent times there’s been a strange & positive turn of events for the Toronto franchise.
They dealt Rudy Gay to Memphis for both performance & contractual reasons, and were somewhat surprised by the upswing in their fortunes.
Heading to their game at Boston tonight, the Raptors will be looking to extend their current win streak to 4 in a row. In their last 10, they’ve won 8, losing only on the road at Miami & Indiana, locations where a lot of NBA teams will lose this season.
So what gives ?
Various factors according to my colleague, Jon Meyer, who’s more hip to basketball than I am.
He cites Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan, team chemistry and a hard nosed approach among the keys to the Raptors success.
Jon also maintains the Raptors are in a pitiful division, witness their 6 & 1 divisional record, which helps a bunch.
Tonight, Toronto goes against an Atlantic Division foe at Boston, the Celtics who are wallowing 13 games under .500.
Word association for tonight ? ” Raptors @ Boston “. I say ” shellacking.”
I’m Fred Wallace