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After 15 games, the Toronto Raptors are 13-and-2 and level with the Memphis Grizzlies for the league’s best record. They’ve shown a lot of promise a month into the season, but can they can they follow through with this deep into the playoffs?
Why not, I say.
On a six-game win streak, the Raps are proving to be a dreaded encounter for every team in the league – and the numbers back it up. Toronto are second in points per game (108), free throw attempts per game (30.3) and back up their free throw attempts with the league’s third best free throw percentage (80.4).
Tie this in with their seventh-ranked defence and you can see why many are heralding them as the real deal.
It is fair to say that their hot start has predominantly been headed by the backcourt duo of Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan.
The pair are averaging a combined 38.8 points per game, over a third of the team’s average points. Lowry is averaging a career bests in points (18.1), free throw attempts (5.9) and rebounds (5.1), while DeRozan is also tallying career best numbers in free throw attempts (8.3) and steals (1.5).
And you can expect the scoring from both men to increase as the season goes on, as Lowry finds his three-ball and DeRozan increases his slashing rates and causes havoc en route to the rim.
There are more than stats to the Raps’ backcourt, however.
Despite the season being only a month in, we’ve already seen a couple of memorable moments by Lowry to close out games Against the West’s best Memphis Grizzlies, Lowry nailed a step-back jumper to seal the deal.
Several days later against the Phoenix Suns, Lowry forced a jump ball from an Isaiah Thomas crossover in the dying stages, helping the Raptors secure the win.
Every good team needs a clutch performer who can show up on the big stage and so far, Lowry looks like he is just the man for Toronto.
Another thing working in the Raptors’ favour is the incredible depth that they possess outside of Lowry. The fellow four of the starting five – DeRozan, Terrence Ross, Amir Johnson and Jonas Valanciunas – remain solid throughout.
Ross, an emphatic dunker of the basketball, has also shown the ability to explode for 51 points as he did last season against the Los Angeles Clippers. While We haven’t yet seen that kind of ability this year, there’s no reason to doubt that he can repeat a performance of that level again in 2014/15.
Amir Johnson and Jonas Valanciunas are both solid, big men. Johnson can play away from the basket and can shoot the three on his night, which helps in bringing defence out to the perimeter, opening it up for the Raptors’ cutters in DeRozan and Ross.
Johnson is also a decent rim protector, with 1.3 blocks per game, while committing only three fouls a game – a decent number for a big man.
Valanciunas recently notched up a new career high in points with 27, showing his ability to score while sending a statement across the league. He is also a solid rebounder, averaging eight per game.
The depth extends to their bench where they have more than reliable back up in all the positions, bar the centre.
Greivis Vasquez comes off the bench at the one, the fiery Louis Williams at the two, James Johnson has blossomed this season into a capable back up three and Patrick Patterson has proven himself as a solid four.
The centre position remains there downfall, though. With Chuck Hayes and Greg Stiemsma being Toronto’s back up options, they lack rim protection and any real scoring threat down low when their back up unit is on the floor.
In saying this, they have a Sixth Man of the Year candidate in Louis Williams as the leader of their second unit.
Williams was recently named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week, a rarity for a player who plays off the bench, in a week where he lead the Raps to a win over LeBron James’ Cleveland Cavaliers with 36 points.
Williams came second in Sixth Man of the Year voting in 2012, and seems to have rediscovered that form after tearing his ACL later that year. He remains key to the Raptors’ successes, leading the second unit and fighting to build on or get the lead while the likes of Lowry and DeRozan rest during games.
Any successful team on the court is generally well-backed by the die-hard fans off it. Toronto’s fans are doing their side justice with their presence at the games, while the hashtag ‘#WeTheNorth’ remains branded across social media in basketball circles.
Following their win at Cleveland, the Toronto faithful who had made the four-and-a-half hour drive down to the Quicken Loans Arena stormed the aisles chanted “We the North!” as Cleveland fans made their way towards the exit door. Talk about rubbing salt into the wounds.
It is this kind of passion that causes fans to make a difference. We’ve seen it in Oklahoma the past few years when the Thunder – renowned for having the league’s best home crowd – have had post-season success and this may be translating to Toronto, too.
Toronto are 9-1 at home this season which shows just how much their players thrive off the ‘We The North’- something that could play a major role in the team’s success in the latter end of the season. Especially should Toronto gain a top seed and, with that, a home court advantage.
It must be said, I was a doubter before the season began, but that opinion has taken a turn in the Raptor’s favour. They haven’t had the toughest schedule to get them to their 13-2 start. I know, they are in a weak Eastern conference.
They don’t have a superstar, and it’s only a month into the season. But they have my confidence.
Holding a post-Rudy Gay trade record of 53-24 – the East’s best in that time period – I just can’t look past them. Their big tests will come soon when they play some of the West’s best such as the Mavericks, Clippers and the Trail Blazers within the next month. By then, we should have a better gauge of where they sit in terms of being contenders.
Remember, the East is weak. But the Raptors can contend to win it all. For the time being at least.
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