After winning their fifth straight, and their ninth in the last 10 games on Wednesday, the Toronto Raptors are back at home tonight to play the lowly Washington Wizards for an NBA Cup matchup.
The Raptors have faced one of the league’s toughest schedules to this point in the season, having played just five home games versus 10 on the road. Despite the travel-heavy schedule, they enter Friday’s game at 10-5, good for second in the Eastern Conference.
The Raptors are hitting an easier stretch of their
schedule that, on paper, gives them an opportunity to build on the hot start they’ve gotten off to.
That stretch starts with tonight’s opponent, the Wizards, who have a league-worst record of 1-13. A Raptors win would be the team’s sixth in a row – their longest winning streak since the 2021-22 season, when the team finished 48-34 and made their most recent playoff appearance.
Toronto will need to ensure that they don’t take things easy against an inferior opponent. A win not only gets them to a six-game streak, but could also clinch their first-ever appearance in the NBA Cup knockout round.
The game starts at 7:30 pm ET on TSN. The Raptors’ rookie Colin Murray-Boyles is OUT (knee). For the Wizards, Marvin Bagley III is doubtful (hip) while Alex Sarr is questionable (toe) to play.
Some things we’re thinking about include…
The Cup
We’re all still figuring out how much to care about the NBA Cup. But this is the best the Raptors have ever been since the NBA Cup entered our lives, so why not get excited!
With a win, and a loss by the 2-13 Indiana Pacers vs. the 10-6 Cleveland Cavaliers, the Raptors would clinch their first ever knockout round appearance. They’d also be the first team to clinch a spot this season. Meanwhile, a loss to the last-place Wizards would be doubly embarrassing in this Cup match: The Wizards, at 0-9, are the only team in the league who’ve never won a single NBA Cup game. So while the Raptors look to extend their ongoing winning streak, they’ll also look to avoid letting the Wizards snap their own streak (as well as, of course, the 13-game losing streak they’ve been on since winning the season opener).
The Raptors will mark the fact that it’s an NBA Cup game with an extremely loud, extremely red court covered in the phrase “We the North.”
The beautiful game
The Raptors are playing beautiful team basketball, and the team’s chemistry has shone through their unselfish play. Against the Sixers on Wednesday they registered 33 assists on 45 made shots.
“We won the game on an assist, that’s a testament to our play,” Barrett said after the team’s win against the Charlotte Hornets on Monday. Barrett scored the game-winning bucket off a pass from Brandon Ingram, who found Barrett with a nice look while double teamed.
Meanwhile, Scottie Barnes and Jakob Poeltl have found a visible synergy with one another that’s manifested in exquisite interior pass after exquisite interior pass. The big-to-big game has been a delight to watch. Having now played with each other for close to three years, the duo have developed a heightened sense of where the other is – and where they’re going – on the court, which has allowed for some nice no-look passes.
Ja’Kobe Walter
It hasn’t been an ideal start to Ja’Kobe Walter’s sophomore NBA season. But Wednesday’s win against the Sixers was a highly encouraging game for Walter, who reached double-digit scoring for the first time this season with 11 points on 4/5 shooting. Importantly, Walter looked confident and decisive.
Walter spoke about that confidence and the role that Darko Rajakovic – an early Coach of the Year candidate! – played in him rising to the occasion.
“Coach was giving me good advice, to not think about anything else, and just play free,” Walter said. “They saw how free I felt in Summer League, and he was just like, ‘It’s just like Summer League. Just play your game.’”
Walter has an opportunity to build off that game and play more like how he did in Summer League – and that opportunity comes against the Wizards, the NBA team that most closely resembles a Summer League roster.
