The first game at home after a road trip is often a “trap” game. Teams are thankful to be home with their families, back in their own beds, back at their own practice facilities and their own lockers. They relax — and promptly drop that first game back, even if it’s against a beatable opponent.
But everything is different for the Toronto Raptors. They just wrapped up their four-game West coast trip, but they’re not back home — they’re in Tampa, in hotels and short-term accommodations, with hastily-made facilities that aren’t their own.
And that beatable opponent?