The Toronto Raptors Are Making Doubters Look FOOLISH…

The Toronto Raptors Are Making Doubters Look FOOLISH…

[Music] The Toronto Raptors keep it rolling. How about the Raptors to begin this season? This is one of the hottest teams in the NBA right now. The Raptors get another W. They pick up the win in Philadelphia. A big win as the Raptors are 10 and five. They have won five games in a row. They have won nine out of their last 10 games. And this team is in second in the Eastern Conference. If you showed somebody before the start of the season, this right here that has the Pistons as the number one seed and the Raptors as the number two seed, you would have thought that person was crazy. This is the reality right now. The Raptors are soaring. This team looks absolutely solid. And the Raptors, they do it again. This was a classic case of them bending but not breaking because the Raptors, they completely flipped this game upside down, took full control in that third quarter thanks to their beautiful ball movement, their scrappy defense, and then in the fourth quarter, Philadelphia, they made a run. And this is one of the best teams when it comes to flipping double-digit deficits and winning in the fourth quarter. and it looked like they were going to potentially come back and and maybe even win this game. It it got close there at the end, but the Raptors did a phenomenal job of holding them off. You look at the Raptors, all five starters finished in double figures. Walter made it six players as he had 11 from off the bench and then late in that fourth when it did look like the Sixers were threatening. It was Emanuel Quickley who was absolutely turned it on these last couple of weeks. He hit backto back clutch threes to put this game away as the Raptors get the win in Philadelphia. And remember, this is the only loss the Raptors have had over their last 10 games. It was that game in Philadelphia. I know the Sixers were short-handed in this one. No Embiid, no Paul George, but got to credit the Raptors for taking care of business. And I think that’s been the biggest theme over this stretch and over all of these wins they’ve accumulated. Yeah, they’ve taken on some teams that are missing some players, but they’re handling these teams. They’re winning games they’re supposed to, and that’s what makes a good team good. They do not lose these type of games. And you know, this is a team that hadn’t playing in a whole ton of close games. Even when they were on that run prior to the Hornets game, they they were winning pretty convincingly, right? Double digit wins. But that game against the Hornets, this one in Philly, the Raptors taking care of business in crunch time, executing well, getting stops. big shots and this team continues to win. And winning is fun, man. It’s been a while since Raptors Nation has been treated to success like this. And it feels good that it’s happening once again with this Raptors team. You look at the Raptors, it has been one of the most remarkable turnarounds in the NBA. This was a team that was 1 and4 and they were essentially dead in the water. But they have transformed their season thanks to this stretch of nine wins in their last 10. And the biggest thing for the Raptors has just been the improvements on both sides of the ball. Like the Raptors are seventh in offensive rating, 15th in defensive rating. And then if you look at net rating, the Raptors are ninth. So this is a team that’s approaching being in the top 10 of every major team category. I mean the biggest ones at least. And their offense we know they can score with the best of them. the defense has really improved and listen a lot of credit goes to Darkco Reyakovich. He was potentially in the hot seat with this team getting out to such a bad start, but he’s really done a good job. Really has these guys committing defensively. It’s been a night and day transformation with their defense compared to the start of the season. They’re scrappy on that end. They’re getting stops. And then on offense, I just love how the ball is moving. And we saw it again the Philadelphia 76ers. Like the ball movement has been super super impressive. The Raptors had 33 assists. They shot at 45 of 84, good enough for 53%. They were just able to get really good looks, really good shot attempts thanks to the flow of their offense and then, you know, talking about their defense forcing the Sixers to 21 turnovers, able to score 31 points off those 21 turnovers. So Darko’s got these guys bought in and you’re seeing it. This is a confident bunch. They’re getting more and more comfortable as these games go on. And I I thought this was remarkable. I saw this on TSN. The most victories through 15 games in team history. This Raptors 2025 202 2016, they got 10. And they’re up there with some impressive other seasons. And what stands out obviously is that 2018 2019 season, the year they won the championship, they had 12 wins in 15 games. They got 10 wins in 15 games. And what’s crazy is they they started 1 and four. So, it just shows you how hot this team really is to just completely evaporate that poor start that they had. And now they’re just winning. And it’s like that’s all they know how to do right now is just close these ball games, rack up these W’s, and they’re going to go home now for four. Great opportunity to build on this. Then they go to Charlotte to take on the Hornets before they take on the Knicks at the end of the month. So, there’s a really good opportunity here for the Raptors to build on this lead, build on their second place spot, and even contend for that number one seed, which is insane to even say because I did not think the Raptors were going to be a top of the East. I know it’s early, but at any point of the season, I’m just being honest. But the fact that this team is right there, it tells you a lot about the fight that they continue to bring. And one last thing here to close the video. I mean, a lot of people are surprised by this, right? Every major NBA analyst did not have the Raptors on the radar. I was looking back at ESPN’s predictions going into the season. They didn’t even have the Raptors making the playin. Bleach Report had the Raptors finishing 41 and 41. And the one NBA analyst who really showed the Raptors some respect coming into the season is Kendrick Perkins, who right now looks like a genius with how accurate his prediction is looking. Because way back in, what was it? June, end of June, he said the Raptors are going to be a top six seed. And he actually bet with Bill Simmons that this was going to happen. And right now, Perkins looks like a genius and and Simmons looks foolish because Simmons actually said after that when Perkins said, “Yeah, the Raptors are going to be a top six seed,” he said, “if you actually think Toronto will be top six in the East and anything other than most fun place to visit, let’s wager on it ASAP.” So, I I know there’s still a long way to go. It’s still really early into the season, but Perkins, shout out to him. He’s he’s the only one that believed in this team and he’s looking pretty darn right so far. A lot of people have been proven wrong who didn’t have the Raptors as a playoff team, didn’t have the Raptors as a playin team. I always thought that was crazy that most people and most analysts didn’t think this team could even crack the playin. I I listen, I knew the Raptors were going to be improved. Did I see this type of success out of the gate? I I don’t think anybody did. I mean, if you told me the Raptors were going to be in second place on Thursday, November 20th, I probably would not have believed you. But this team, you got to credit them. They are clicking. They’re getting along. Things are flowing. Brandon Ingram, another strong game from him. Scotty Barnes, RJ Barrett’s been having a solid season. And it just looks like the pieces are are fitting in nicely right now. And they are going out there and racking up these wins. So, we’ll see if the Raptors can keep it going. But, let me know some of your main takeaways with this Raptors team during this hot streak that they’re on. Guys, drop a like on the video. Subscribe to the channel if you’re new. That’s it for me, Spook signing off. Thank you so much for watching. I will catch you all again in the next one.

The Toronto Raptors have been proving the doubters wrong with their hot start.

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