NBA: 5 Questions
The NBA is entering their dog days of the season.It’s always fun to step back and take a scan around the league at some of the storylines that have developed. With over 2,400 games in a season, new storylines are developing almost daily that affect a team, a conference, and even the whole league. As we get deep into January, the grind of the season is starting to affect some players, especially rookies who are playing more games than they ever have in a season.With playoff and awards pictures starting to take shape with more than half the season over, we can start to separate the contenders from the pretenders and use the next month and a half to see and guess what cream will rise to the top. With that, let’s take a tour through the league and see what questions we can answer.
#1 Are the Raptors For Real?
The Toronto Raptors currently sit at 30-15, second in the Eastern Conference and 2.5 games behind the Cleveland Cavaliers. They have a four-game cushion on the third place Atlanta Hawks, as they carry a nine-game winning streak into their game vs the New York Knicks on Thursday.
They have been playing their best ball of the season, despite starting small forward out until late March for sure, as they have used DeMar DeRozan or Kyle Lowry to play with a bench that is much improved from last season. While Lowry has been impressive, getting voted into the All-Star game as a starter, DeMar DeRozan’s continued improvement has the Raptors really excited about the playoffs.
What is really giving the Raptors fans hope that the team’s regular season success will finally result in a playoff series win or two is their teamwide improvement on the defensive end. After struggling mightily on defense last season, coming in at 24th in defensive efficiency, they have improved by four points per 100 possessions and now rank 9th in the league.
This improvement should help them when the playoffs roll around and the game slows and is the main reason I have them as the top competitor to the Cavs in the East.