In the 2017-2018 campaign, the Raptors have blown winnable games against the best of the league. Against the Golden State Warriors, the Raptors were up by five points within the last two minutes. The team accomplished this feat with creative ball movement, often finding Jakob Poeltl rolling to the rim with grace. The game was the Raptors’ to lose; naturally, they regressed to last year’s stagnant offense, allowing DeRozan and Lowry to take contested jumpers while the inevitable Warriors’ three-point barrage beat the Raptors late.
A win against the Boston Celtics would prove to the rest of the league that the Raptors are not a team to be trifled with.