The Week That Was: Down The Standings We Fall

The regular season is winding down and back-to-back losses at Atlanta and Miami over the weekend means Toronto is now closer to fifth place in the East than third place, a game ahead of the Hawks, who hold the tiebreaker over the Raptors after clinching the season series on Friday.

At 38-28, the Raptors are three back of the Celtics for the third seed in the East. They finished their five-game road trip 2-3, a disappointing result considering they started this mini road-trip with a win in Washington.

So, now what, besides wait for Kyle Lowry to come back and save the day? Daniel Reynolds took a look at where Toronto stood in the power rankings across the web and started a new weekly NBA Standings watch for our team, while Daniel Hackett looked at the Raptors’ win projection with the season heading into its final stretch.

This is a question for later, but with the recent roster moves and his performance this season, Reynolds wonders: will the Raptors trade Jonas Valanciunas this summer? Maybe he read the article, because Valanciunas put together perhaps his best outing of the season in a win over the Pelicans this week. Later in the week, Russell Peddle looked at how the Raptors perform when Valanciunas erupts, and other numbers. On the bright side, P.J. Tucker has been an impact player, as Hackett explores his defense.

Elsewhere, this week’s Bringing Up Bebe features Ilya Bryzgalov, which is about all you need to click the link. Axel Toupane had a stint with the Milwaukee Bucks and came back to the 905s. And on this week Headquarters podcast, Sean Woodley and Harsh Dave talked about how the Lowry-less Raptors are likeable, while the Celtics are not, among other things.

So, how to get over the sour taste of Saturday’s loss at Miami? Well, at some point Lowry will come back, the Raptors have some winnable games coming up, and Drake is dropping a new album next week. Everyone be good.