That’s A Rap #172: The road ahead for the Raptors

There’s nothing worse than losing a home game to the team with the 2nd-worst record in the league... unless you lose another home game the following night to the team with the worst record!

Such is life as a Toronto Raptors fan these days. Scotiabank Arena has returned to full capacity. Unfortunately, the starting unit cannot boast the same. With Fred VanVleet’s shot-making and OG Anunoby’s two-way wizardry on the shelf, the Raptors could only muster two wins (both over a Nets team with even more star power absent) during the dreaded six-games-in-eight-nights post-All-Star break stretch.

The “reward” for finishing up that grueling week is a season-high-tying six-game road trip! Let’s see if there’s any optimism on the immediate horizon for the 7th-place Raptors.

In This Episode:

8:00 — ROAD TRIP!!

Cleveland and Phoenix and Denver, OH MY! At a glance, the Raptors’ upcoming road trip could push the team into a deeper funk. However, team records can be deceiving at this time of the year. Is there a glimmer of hope that Toronto can return home unscathed?

15:00 — BG Point God

Full disclosure: Jason and I recorded this episode minutes before Malachi Flynn’s hamstring injury was announced. Please re-direct your jinx blame elsewhere. Seriously though, VanVleet’s pain has been Flynn’s gain. The second-year guard has flourished in his minutes with the starting unit and may have carved a spot in Nick Nurse’s rotation moving forward.

28:35 — Worst All-Star Saturday?

Turn back the clock a few weeks. If I were to tell you that Scottie Barnes would absolutely flame out in the Clutch Challenge, but that was NOT the low-light of All-Star weekend, would that scare you away from watching? Between the confusing Skills Challenge format and one of the least entertaining slam dunk contests in history (and I’ve watched the dunk wheel contest), I’m 100% confident that I’ll never re-watch those events.