With 20 games left in the regular season, the Toronto Raptors are in an interesting position. Currently 5th in the Eastern Conference standings, the idea that they will be playing in the postseason is pretty much confirmed. Whether or not they have to endure the NBA Play-In tournament, though, isn’t decided one way or another. They would have to drop lower than sixth in the standings to have to compete in the Play-In, but with a tough schedule still ahead of them, their 5th-place spot isn’t as cushioned
as they’d like it to be.
That adds a little bit of pressure onto the team in March and April — a concept the Raptors haven’t had to deal with in a few years. They haven’t played in a playoff series since the 2022 season (Scottie’s rookie year), and one other time since then, in a pretty entertaining but still ultimately bad play-in game that resulted in a loss. Since then, this time of year has felt more like a slow descent into lottery odds than a buildup to the postseason for the team. This year changes things, as it looks like the Toronto Raptors will be competing past the regular season.
At the Raptors’ practice on Saturday, the idea that the pressure was building instead of waning was literally giving Darko Rajakovic goosebumps. “Pressure is a privilege,” he said, quoting the great Billie Jean King (apt for International Women’s Day). Yet, that also means that the Raptors have higher expectations, and their recent play since the All-Star Break has not been very indicative of a team looking to rise above their station. They came into this game on Sunday having lost four of their last five games.
Rajakovic was very vocal about Saturday’s practice being particularly good. When asked what was so good about it, Scottie Barnes told the media that their team was really communicating and holding each other accountable for their recent slump. They didn’t like how they had performed in their last games, and knew they could do better. That’s the beauty of having more than a day off in between games, especially so deep into the season, you have more time to address slumps or mistakes.
Sunday’s home game proved that whatever they did on Saturday worked. The Raptors acheived a wire-to-wire win over the Dallas Mavericks, which was expected, but obviously still needed to be earned. Every win is important this time of the year, as the conversation now shifts into playoff placement and more importantly, avoiding the Play-In. Home court advantage would also be fun, but let’s not get too ahead of ourselves in the first year back into the postseason picture. Making the postseason alone is enough progress for this year.
Toronto took Sunday’s game 122-92 over Dallas, with RJ Barrett scoring a game-high 31 points in the game. Darko though, was more impressed with Barrett’s defence, saying that the more Barrett locks in defensively, the more energy he has on the other end. Barrett agreed with him, saying the more energetic he is on defense, the more focused on the game he feels. Darko also stated the emphasis he put on his team to take care of the basketball, after turnovers have been an issue over the past week.
Barrett confirmed that their good practice from Saturday was a huge reason why they competed the way that they did today. He himself hit a milestone today, scoring his 8,000th career point, which he reflected on after the game. As one of only a select group of Canadians to achieve that milestone, he added “doing it for the Raptors is more special.”
Whatever energy Saturday’s practice held — whether it be the closeness of the postseason, the crisp spring air coming into Toronto this weekend, or just a desire to be better — they need to hold onto that. The Raptors will head out onto the road to play Houston and New Orleans this week before comign back home Friday night.
