Raptors running out of good opponents as season drags on

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The Toronto Raptors are about to run out of good opponents.
Following Monday’s late game in Phoenix against the a talented team that happens to be both the NBA’s highest-paid group and one of its most confounding and then Wednesday’s game at red-hot Golden State (winners of seven straight heading into Monday), Toronto will only play one more team over .500 the rest of the way. That would be the surprising Detroit Pistons on April 4. Otherwise it’s one each against NBA-worst Washington and third-worst Charlotte, plus two against a San Antonio squad missing its two stars, a couple against Brooklyn, one against Philadelphia (only one win separates Toronto from those teams), one against free-falling Dallas and games against Chicago and Portland, both kind of eying play-in spots.

Good luck being entertained by most of those ones.

Toronto rested Jakob Poeltl for Monday’s game, with Immanuel Quickley returning from one game of rest of his own. RJ Barrett remained out due to illness, and a number of other Raptors remain injured. Going forward expect one or two players to be sat out for rest, but not Scottie Barnes because he can only miss two of the final 14 games to remain eligible for all-NBA or all-defensive team consideration.

Head coach Darko Rajakovic will continue to tinker with his lineups and even his play calls. The first play of Sunday’s close loss in Portland featured something to set up a corner three-point shot by Poeltl of all people. He made the shot, his first three-pointer in four seasons, and Rajakovic mused to reporters afterwards that they’ll try to get the big man more looks from outside since he’s been working hard at improving there. The stretch run will be all about experimentation. Rajakovic has been tethering Quickley’s minutes to Barnes to get the duo more used to playing together moving forward. Whether Brandon Ingram gets into the mix remains up in the air. The team will likely update his status again either ahead of Thursday’s game against the Warriors, or in the days before Sunday’s home game against San Antonio.

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FUN WITH NUMBERS

Toronto’s just 26th in free throw makes per game this season, yet in March has ranked third. The main reason is the team is simply getting to the line far more frequently than it did prior to (nearly seven times more a game). Quickley and Barrett are both getting 6.2 free throw attempts per game in March, but Quickley has hit 87.1% of those attempts, compared to only 58.1% for Barrett.

Another interesting stat: Toronto was 6-2 in March before Monday’s game, despite its NBA-worst 53.9% true shooting percentage for the month. The team is also last in effective field goal percentage and only two teams are turning the ball over more often.

The strong record then has been a result of elite defence (only Detroit has been stingier in March) and great rebounding (Toronto’s been the best offensive rebounding and third-best overall on the boards in March).

QUICK HITTER

This has been one of the best scoring months of Quickley’s career and it continues an interesting pattern. Either with New York or Toronto, the point guard seems to save his best scoring for late in seasons. He averaged 28.8 points in April 2023, 23.2 in April 2024, is averaging 21.6 points this March, averaged 20 a game in March 2022, 19.7 in March 2023 and 18.5 last March. Those are the six highest-scoring months of his career.

Toronto needs Quickley to find his rhythm earlier in seasons moving forward. This year it was tough since injuries kept him out for so long.

This is also one of the best scoring months for Poeltl. He’s averaged 16.2 points in five games, trailing only his November 2024 high of 16.6.

Overall, Poeltl has shot a career-best 67% at the free throw line for the year, a massive improvement from the 46.5% he managed in 2019-20 while with San Antonio or even his career mark of 55%.

@WolstatSun