For the Toronto Raptors, these are the good times. They’re incomprehensibly good, actually. They have the fourth-best record in the NBA. With their next win, the Raptors will tie a franchise record. With the win after that, they’ll break it. They are on pace to go 57-25, all told. It would just be the seventh time the franchise has finished above .500, in 21 years.
And outside of the arena itself, people are missing out. Yes, they get second-tier channels with regularity, but the TV ratings on both TSN and Sportsnet have dropped by close to 15 per cent from last season, when the Raptors played free and easy and won 49 games before .