Raps’ March slate began with a loss and will likely end with a loss

Article content

For the Raptors, March Sadness will finally reach its end Easter Sunday when the Philadelphia 76ers provide the opposition.

Article content

The month of misery began with a home loss to the Golden State Warriors and is expected to fittingly conclude with a loss.

Article content

It speaks to Toronto’s season of epic change and circumstances beyond its control when one considers the team has started more different starting groups than it has posted wins.

Against Philly, the Raptors’ 25th starting unit will take to the floor.

What this all means moving forward is entirely dependent on perspective.

Some will argue the team’s one-win month, which was produced at home against a very inferior Charlotte team, doesn’t carry much significance knowing the team, even when healthy, wasn’t going to qualify for the playoffs.

Others believe the changing faces and perpetually changing rotations provided an opportunity for players who wouldn’t have received extended minutes or expanded roles in less turbulent times to get touches.

Article content

Article content

For the most part, the past month has exposed weaknesses more than this month-long process has revealed strengths.

Losers of 12 straight games heading into Sunday, the month began — for those who have lost track of this free-falling team — on a positive note when the Raptors took a lead following the opening quarter against the Warriors, an advantage the home side would take into intermission.

The biggest loss would befall the Raptors late in the opening half when Scottie Barnes broke his left middle finger.

“Obviously when you lose an all-star player (albeit as an injury replacement) in the game, that definitely changes a lot of things,” said head coach Darko Rajakovic. “We tried with different lineups, different players, gave multiple players opportunities there.”

Article content

Truer words have never been spoken, an assertion that would serve as the month’s theme for what would ensue.

Two nights following the Warriors loss, the Raptors beat the Hornets.

On the same night, the Raptors would lose Jakob Poeltl to a hand injury.

Loss after loss would follow. Players lost to injury or the result of personal reasons, the NBA investigating irregular betting activity surrounding two games involving Jontay Porter, two 40-point blowout defeats at home, and no light at the end of this tunnel.

At least there’s only nine games remaining.

The bad news is that there’s nine games remaining to a completely lost season that should never be forgotten.

Management must wear this debacle when everyone connected with the NBA knew substantive changes were required two years ago.

Article content

The rationale behind delaying the inevitable makes no sense other than to highlight how management grew too complacent to the point of being too cocky, thinking it can turn around the fortunes of a franchise that continues to hit rock bottom.

The biggest losers during this period of wretched basketball involve the paying public.

Ticket holders brave the carnage by showing up, while others abstain and hope some will scoop up discounted seats available on the secondary market.

Right behind the paying public is Rajakovic.

How anyone can possibly assess the job the new head coach has done this season is the stuff of fantasy and borderline foolhardy.

Article content

What he was dealt with to begin the season was difficult enough when anyone with half a brain could see the likes of Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby getting traded, two of Toronto’s three best players whom management should have traded well before Rajakovic’s hiring.

Everyone knew Dennis Schroder was not a starting point guard.

Entering Sunday, Rajakovic would gladly welcome back Schroder knowing the Raptors do not have a legitimate floor general at their disposal.

At this stage with the finish line fast approaching, Rajakovic’s biggest task is to keep his players, at least those who are available, fully engaged from the opening tap.

Admittedly, he noticed how players lost their focus when the New York Knicks ran the Raptors off the court Wednesday night and wasn’t shy in sharing his observation with the media following Toronto’s 44-point loss, the franchise’s biggest home defeat to eclipse a 41-point loss to New Orleans earlier this month.

Article content

The Sixers, meanwhile, arrive in town in a foul mood as they look to sweep their four-game season series against the roster-challenged Raptors.

In a one-point home loss to the Clippers Wednesday night, Kelly Oubre Jr. was rejected at the rim on a play head coach Nick Nurse felt should have resulted in a foul.

Following the game, officials acknowledged a foul should have been called, which would have sent Oubre to the line with a chance to win it for Philly.

Nurse stormed onto the court to dispute the non-call and needed to be restrained by his assistants. Oubre also jumped into the fray.

Each was fined $50,000 by the NBA.

Friday night in Cleveland, Tyrese Maxie was unable to drain a three-pointer with 2.1 seconds left as the Sixers lost by three points to the Cavs.

Losers of three in a row, the Sixers are clinging to a spot in the play-in tournament as they await the return of Joel Embiid, who is travelling with the team.

Recently, the big man began on-court activities with the expectation the league’s reigning MVP will return to the lineup before the playoffs.

Embiid has been sidelined since tearing the meniscus in his left knee during a Jan. 30 loss to the Warriors.

In Embiid’s absence, the Sixers are 10-18.

[email protected]

Article content