The Toronto Raptors have lost six straight and eight of their last nine, and they now find themselves in 11th place in the Eastern Conference.
This isn’t good.
However, as bad as things have been, it’s important to remember that the bottom hasn’t dropped out of this team — not by a long shot.
Toronto is only a half game back of being in a play-in tournament spot and are only three games back of being right back in the mix for the No. 6 seed in the East (the cut-off to avoid the play-in tournament).
So as bleak as things may seem for the Raptors right now, there’s still hope yet.
Unfortunately, things don’t get easy for the Raptors as they play the Utah Jazz on Friday at 8 p.m. ET on Sportsnet ONE and Sportsnet East.
The best team in the league with a sterling 29-11 record, the Raptors will have their work cut out for them.
Here’s a look at three things to watch for as you take in the game.
The band’s back together
The most important bit of news to know heading into Friday’s contest is this simple fact: For the first time in about three weeks, the Raptors will have a full complement of players available for them.
That means, at long last, all of the team’s key starters will be back and available, with the hope that the Raptors’ COVID-19 nightmare has passed them for good.
Of course, as indicated by the returns of Pascal Siakam and Fred VanVleet in Detroit on Wednesday, returning to the lineup and getting back to your usual form after dealing with COVID-19 can be two entirely different things. To automatically expect OG Anunoby to return and look like the All-Defensive team stalwart and three-point marksman that he has been this season right out of the jump might be too ambitious of an ask.
Unfortunately for the Raptors, their reality is that they’ll likely need Anunoby (and Siakam and VanVleet) to shake off the rust pronto if they’re going to get back into the playoff mix and it’ll start with a tough task against a good Jazz team.
Flamethrowing Powell
If there’s one way the Raptors might be able to re-discover some of their pre-COVID protocols form against the Jazz, a good place to start is probably to continue to find shots for Norman Powell.
The sixth-year guard is coming off a career-high 43-point performance on absolutely scorching 14-of-18 shooting — including an 8-of-12 mark from deep.
It’s been mentioned before, but Powell has amazingly transformed himself into one of the most efficient scorers in the NBA and has done so mostly since he was converted into a full-time starter back on a Jan. 22 contest against the Miami Heat.
In the 24-game span since he became a starter on that date, Powell’s averaged 24.3 points per game on 53.4 per cent shooting and a 46.3 per-cent clip from three-point range. Additionally, as part of this span, Powell’s managed six games where he’s scored 30 points or more, a feat he’s only been able to do four times previously over the span of his whole career.
In short, Powell’s been a remarkably efficient scoring machine, and the Raptors would be foolish to do anything but look to get more shots for him until he does finally cool off — if that happens, that is.
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Jazz struggling
As mentioned before, the Jazz own the best record in the NBA, and Friday’s game will be a tough one for the Raptors.
However, it’s not like Utah is infallible. In fact, they’ve hit a bump of their own lately having lost five of their last eight games, including a surprising defeat Thursday night to the Washington Wizards where All-Star centre Rudy Gobert was very candid with his thoughts about the Jazz’s struggles of late.
If there’s ever a time to see the best team in the league while you’re in the midst of a six-game losing streak, catching them while they’re going through a rough spell themselves on the second night of a back-to-back is it.
There’s hope on the horizon for the Raptors yet.
