Another day, another Toronto Raptors game in an empty arena against a depleted opponent. Tonight, the San Antonio Spurs make their annual trip to Toronto, minus their best player, while the Raptors are — for the second game in a row! — at full strength.
Raptors-Spurs games have had some extra juice the past couple of years, thanks to DeMar DeRozan; with DeRozan now doing it all in Chicago, only Jakob Poeltl remains to hold down the “former Raptor” fort.
These aren’t the same Spurs anymore, anyway. At 14-21, they’re off to one of the slowest starts of the Gregg Popovich era, and have lost three straight.