This is the first of eight “look-back & look-ahead” posts I’ll write throughout the season, after each ten-game stretch.
THE LOOK BACK
After a scorching 5-0 start to the season, the Toronto Raptors fell back to earth in worrisome fashion. An unrewarding trip to Florida was followed by a disappointing close loss to the New York Knicks. Reality bites, as it so often does: DeMarre Carroll was sidelined with plantar fasciitis, then Terrence Ross discovered he had somehow hyperextended a ligament in his left thumb.
However, playing two dreadful teams, Philadelphia and New Orleans, was a tonic, and the Raptors sit 7-3.