PORTLAND, OREGON - JANUARY 11: Fred VanVleet #23 and head coach Nick Nurse of the Toronto Raptors (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images)
The Toronto Raptors are playing better than their 2-8 record.
Monday night’s heartbreaking loss against the Portland Trail Blazers, which came just 24 hours after the Golden State Warriors prevailed in a similar fashion, shows exactly how tough the start to the 2020-21 season has been for Nick Nurse and the Toronto Raptors.
While plenty of attention has been directed towards Toronto’s inability to hold onto leads, one peculiar stat shows that even accounting for these collapses, the Raptors might be playing better than most realize.