Yesterday was quite a day, one that saw a third of the Toronto Raptors roster shipped out and left the Raptors with only nine players available for their game against Atlanta. After an emotionally draining day you could almost forgive them for phoning this one in, but they didn’t — after a lackadaisical first half that saw the Hawks shoot the lights out, the Raptors locked in, the Hawks came back down to Earth and Toronto ran away with it.
After a long day covering the deadline, I too am drained, so we’ll keep the thoughts short and sweet:
With only nine guys available, it was important for the Raptors starters to get off to a good start; the Raptors starters were going to need to play big minutes, and the bench was thin, so falling behind early and playing catchup would seem to be problematic.