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Record: 18-28
Pace: 99.9 (14) OffRtg: 112.4 (13) DefRtg: 112.5 (23) NetRtg: -0.1 (16)
Other teams made bigger trades, but the Raptors led the league in the drama of the week cutoff. Their eight-game losing streak clashed with the Rockets’ 20-game losing streak and theirs was the streak that survived. Wednesday was Kyle Lowry’s last game as a Raptor, except it wasn’t, and the streak ended with a resounding victory over one of the best teams in the league. Lowry was not traded, but Norman Powell was, and he was able to play his former team three days later.
With the Raptors playing small, OG Anunoby spent most of Wednesday and Friday babysitting Nikola Jokic and Deandre Ayton. He did an admirable job, and the Raptors continue to have much better numbers with Lowry, Fred VanVleet, Anunoby and Pascal Siakam playing alongside another guard or wing (+11.8 points per 100 possessions in 146 minutes in total) than with a center (+0.9 per 100 in 206 minutes).
Sadly, lingering late-game woe has the Raptors at 18-28 and three games in the loss column on 10th place, having been outplayed by four points overall in their 46 games. After this easy victory over the Nuggets, the Raps lost by nine points overall against the Suns and Blazers. They are now a painful 7-19 (with nine straight losses) in games that were within five points in the last five minutes, after seeing, by far, the biggest drop in clutch winning percentage by compared to last season, when they were 25 12 (third best).
They’re apparently set for a push, and the schedule offers an opportunity to collect a few wins over the next two weeks. Six of their next seven games are against teams with losing records and the only exception is a visit from the shorthanded Lakers.
Week 15: @ DET, @ OKC, against GSW
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