NBA Toronto Raptors

Toronto Raptors’ Road Trip Will Cost Them Top Seed

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By @GoldenPerspectv

Dwane Casey and Greivis Vásquez

Dan Hamilton – USA Today Sports

This past summer, there were only two teams that dominated the conversation in regards to top Eastern Conference teams: the Cleveland Cavaliers and Chicago Bulls. Of course, both teams received very satisfying news during the offseason to boost their power ranking. LeBron James revealed he was going back to Cleveland and Pau Gasol decided to join Derrick Rose in his return sequel in Chicago. It was (and still is) pretty hard to fathom any other team that can play at a higher level than them in the East. But now that we’re a third into the season, one of the two teams ahead of the Bulls and Cavs might see their downfall sooner than later.

The Toronto Raptors have been playing at a great level, with and without co-star DeMar DeRozan. Kyle Lowry has been playing at a top point guard level and has willed his team with the help of a stellar bench that averages 40 points per game. Jonas Valanciunas has also taken a slight leap in production despite seeing less minutes than last year. After a solid season and short playoff run in 2013-14, the Raptors have gained another year of chemistry and are meshing well with one another. They finished 22nd in team field-goal percentage last season and have improved to 10th this year.

However, they have struggled against title contenders on the road this season. Within this week, they face the Los Angeles Clippers (Saturday), Denver Nuggets (Sunday), Portland Trail Blazers (Tuesday) and Golden State Warriors (next Friday). I don’t think the Clippers are title contenders, but I do think they will beat Toronto tomorrow at home. They have only lost three games in the Staples Center and last night’s tough win over Golden State will carry over as game-deciding momentum.

The Raptors should walk away with a W at the Pepsi Center against the Nuggets, but you never know in this league. Denver averages over 100 points per game, but in their last five, they have tallied less than 95 points on average. In other words, this team is very streaky. If they’re hot, it can be a great game. Otherwise, I intend on seeing a double-digit lead held by Toronto for most of the game.

The Trail Blazers’ bench will be their Achilles’ heel when Toronto comes to town, but they have proven that that will not be a problem. Portland is 12-2 at home, they have scored 111 points per contest in their last five games and have beaten the San Antonio Spurs, New Orleans Pelicans and Oklahoma City Thunder on the road in that span. I don’t see the Raptors putting out their fire. At least, not without DeRozan.

When the Raptors take their trip to Oakland to face the Warriors, I think that game won’t be close. The Warriors like to play a quick up-and-down game (especially with Andrew Bogut out). The Raptors like to do that too, but when they get out of control, they start to take bad shots. We saw a lot of that last year. This year’s early success is profoundly due to their effective scoring. The only chance Toronto has will be if Lowry is able to control the game. He can’t get caught up in the shootout that Golden State tends to engage other teams to play. The Warriors are an efficient run and gun team and the Raptors defense is just average. Who will be able to check Klay Thompson? He’s going to be the X-factor for the Warriors, but I just can’t see the Raptors pulling out a victory against that type of fire power.

This tough stretch will unfortunately bump the Raptors to the third seed at best by the new year. Chicago and Cleveland both have favorable matchups to close 2014. The Washington Wizards may stagger as well, but we will be opening the new year with the two teams expected to be on top.

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