Raptors Drop 5th Straight, But Reinforcements On Their Way

The Toronto Raptors lost their fifth straight game, losing 118-95 to the Chicago Bulls, but help is on the way with players clearing COVID-19 protocols

Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports

The good news is reinforcements are on their way.

Just about everything that can go wrong has gone wrong for the Toronto Raptors over the past two-plus weeks. Not only have they battled COVID-19 issues within the organization, but they've been unable to overcome the issues on the court. Sunday night's 118-95 loss to the Chicago Bulls marked Toronto's fifth straight loss, all of which have come against Eastern Conference teams.

If you want to look on the bright side, maybe there's a case to be made that this experience has helped develop some of the Raptors' bench players. 

"We’re getting some guys out here who maybe we can plug in later on," Raptors coach Nick Nurse said prior to Sunday's game. "We’re getting to learn ‘em a little bit and use that as a positive a little later on if we need to."

The problem is hardly any of those players have stepped up. It's been the Kyle Lowry, Norman Powell, and Chris Boucher show for the better part of the last five games and that's not going to cut it.

But help is on the way.

"I think a couple guys were cleared yesterday, I think one or two more get cleared tomorrow, and then one more after that, and then there's still some time that needs to elapse from there," Nurse said of the group still in Tampa going through COVID-19 protocols. "I think by the end of the week, we're kinda hoping to pick everybody, we were gonna fly to Detroit tonight and stay, but we're going back home to pick up 11 missing in action people."

The Raptors have certainly dug themselves a hole. Through 39 games, they sit at 17-22, tied with the lowly Oklahoma City Thunder for the eighth-worst record in the NBA. If the season were to end today, Toronto would have about a 20% chance of earning a top-five pick in the NBA lottery. On the flip side, these are still The Toronto Raptors and that comes with some respect. FiveThirtyEight gave Toronto an 88% chance of making the playoffs prior to Sunday and ESPN has the Raptors with a 98.3% chance of making the postseason.

"When we get guys back we can play to a level that we know we can play to," Lowry said. "I wouldn’t say there’s more pressure. Honestly, you want to be in sixth place so you don’t have to play in no play-in games, but we have to do what we have to do to get to that point where we’re where we need to be. If we’re eighth, seven, we have to play a play-in game but we still get an opportunity to do something."

If Toronto is going to make a playoff push, it's going to be unlike anything they've done in recent history. It'll be an exhaustive dogfight to make it into the dance, but with Pascal Siakam, Fred VanVleet, and OG Anunoby returning any day now, the Raptors will certainly have a chance to make some noise.

"I don't feel pressure," Powell said. "We're a good team, and we've just got to believe it. I know looking at the standings and the seedings, everybody's talking about how close the East is. Win one game and you can be in fourth, and lose two games, you can be in 11th or something. But once we get our guys back, and those guys get back into the flow of things, I feel like we're going to be a team that's gonna be able to go on a huge run and collect some wins."

Up Next: Detroit Pistons

The Raptors will have some much-needed time off before returning on Wednesday to take on the Detroit Pistons.