Maybe this is what the Raptors are now. Last season, with few embarrassing losses to their name, we could pretend that Toronto would always be a competent winning machine, a team unable or unwilling to lose through humiliation. Sure, the team lost games — and without checking I seem to recall some lopsided defeats — but it never felt like they were beaten. It just felt like a brief period of readjustment before another win.
Anyway, it feels like I’ve said this before. This is also something that feels like it’s happening more this season, a certain repetition, like we’re trapped in the purgatory of being mid-tier (or worse) with the Raptors.