Raptors vs. Nuggets: Just how high can this win streak get?

The properties of a win streak are strange. As the winning continues, and the number gets higher and higher, there's a weird alchemy of excitement, wonder and, yes, hand-wringing. In this specific case, we know the Raptors are eventually going to lose. Maybe it'll be tonight against the Denver Nuggets, maybe the next night or the game after that. Who knows?

In Alfred Hitchcock's Rope (what? I'm reading Hitchcock/Truffaut right now, get off my back), two young men decide to kill a man in their apartment. Then, for thrills and to try and prove to themselves they can get away with it, the duo hosts a dinner party in said apartment with the body stuffed in a trunk in plain view. The tension generated in this scenario is two-fold: one, we hold our breath as Jimmy Stewart (the hero of the film) gradually gets closer and closer to figuring out the truth; two, Hitchcock shot the entire film in super-long 10 minute takes and edited it to look almost like it was happening in real time. So, we wait in the film's thrall for the moment when the characters -- or maybe the director -- will screw up.

This is what a streak, once it starts getting past 10, 11, 12 (???) wins, feels like. Again we're in the audience, watching the Raptors as they lay waste to the league, wondering every night if this will be the night things fall apart and the team loses. We worry about minutes for Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan, nervous that this will be the game when some injury or breakdown befalls them. Game after game, it's the kind of real time suspense of which Hitchcock would definitely approve.

(Yes, I realize this means the opponents of the Raptors -- tonight the young and struggling Denver Nuggets -- are Jimmy Stewart. Try not to think too hard about this.)

Want more details of the game? Check out Dan Grant's preview. And then, as always, let's get in the comments.