Toronto Raptors Two-Man Game: Depressing January
By Demar Grant
January is the most depressing month of the year and with the Toronto Raptors injured and inconsistent it’s not hard to tell why.
A recent spell of injuries and shaky play resulted in the Toronto Raptors rattling down the Eastern Conference seeding without any handholds in sight. To help pick up the pieces, Demar Grant and Chris Okrainetz bring you the Two-Man Game.
The Raptors have officially fallen to the 4th seed… PANIC?!
Demar: Panic isn’t the right word for where I’m at right now.
You know that feeling of hysteria and existential crisis you get when you spent all week studying for your final exam? Then the day before you meet with your study group, you’re going over the practice questions of what should be the easy concepts, but are still a struggle to get through them as a group? You then acknowledge the test is going to be filled with questions similar and even more difficult, so if you’re struggling now you know there’s no hope on the actual test.
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Then, you silently start giggling to yourself while shaking your head, until devolving into hysterical laughter recognizing how screwed you all are for the test tomorrow. When you realize people are staring at you manically cackling, only then do you contemplate the futility of actually studying for the test. We all know we’re going to fail. So, you vacantly stare at the notes on your study sheet having already accepted your fate, while your classmates frantically try to engorge as much knowledge as possible.
Yeah, that’s where I am right now.
Chris: Panic, no. Concerned, yes.
The Raptors have their issues right now, but I’m not quite ready to panic yet. Let’s keep in mind that both DeMar DeRozan and Patrick Patterson have been in-and-out during this stretch of losing and they are key cogs for the team. With them in the lineup, the Raptors are averaging over 100 points per 100 possessions and we’ve seen this team struggle to score without them.
Of course, there are glaring issues like their shooting slump, inefficiencies on the glass, big-man rotation, Cory Joseph‘s play and constant defensive lapses, to name a few, but I won’t panic until we see this team at full strength. If they’re losing with a healthy roster, then, yea, smash the panic button with reckless abandon!