TORONTO – Because the Toronto Raptors veer towards the tip of the season with a playoff berth out of sight, the crew’s focus has turned towards improvement.
However a 108-97 victory over the Charlotte Hornets on Friday, the Raptors’ third straight win, confirmed that improvement doesn’t simply apply to rookies and sophomores.
The trio of Jakob Poeltl, Scottie Barnes and Immanuel Quickley keyed the Raptors’ newest victory — and supplied some degree of optimism that the crew could also be competing in additional significant video games one 12 months from now.
“It’s nice to see how arduous they play … and the way linked they’re and the way they impart with one another and the way they help one another,” head coach Darko Rajakovic stated. “That’s large for me. For me, every little thing begins with taking part in arduous, and every little thing begins with having good crew chemistry, and that’s one thing I’m actually proud now we have on this crew.”
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Poeltl, the ninth-year centre out of Austria, led the Raptors with 24 factors and added 12 rebounds to finish the double-double.
Barnes, the fourth-year ahead and one-time all-star, contributed 18 factors, six rebounds and 6 assists. Fifth-year guard Immanuel Quickley, acquired from the New York Knicks final season within the OG Anunoby deal, tacked on 19 factors and 9 helpers.
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With all three gamers below contract for subsequent season, Poeltl stated their latest run of play — together with the present three-game successful streak, plus two others earlier in March — has been essential to future success.
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“It’s large for constructing chemistry,” he stated. “Hopefully we will get much more reps these final couple video games of the season. I believe it exhibits on the market that we’ve been placing within the work all year long and now can check that increasingly.”
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With the seventh-worst report within the NBA, the forward-looking Raptors personal a 32 per cent probability at drawing a top-four decide and a 7.5 per cent probability of successful the highest choice within the NBA Draft lottery on Could 12.
However Toronto is sort of locked into that place, sitting with a report 3.5 video games higher than the Twenty fourth-place Philadelphia 76ers however 4 video games worse than the Twenty second-ranked San Antonio Spurs with simply 9 video games left on the schedule.
The Raptors face the 76ers on Sunday as they try and run their win streak to 4. It might mark a bottom-feeder sweep, with victories now having come in opposition to the Hornets along with the Brooklyn Nets (23-50) and Washington Wizards (16-57).
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And so at this level, with the lottery balls seemingly settled, maybe the very best factor Toronto can do is goal to construct a successful basis for subsequent season.
One step towards that? The Raptors’ defensive effectivity (factors allowed per 100 possessions) ranked tops within the NBA over the ten video games previous to Friday’s motion.
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Rajakovic credited the crew’s defence as soon as once more within the win over Charlotte, particularly mentioning Barnes, who held Hornets ahead Miles Bridges to simply 4-for-20 taking pictures.
“We had nice stretches there,” Rajakovic stated. “Total good defensive efficiency from the crew.”
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Poeltl stated Rajakovic’s defensive system is exclusive within the NBA, and thus requires extra time to excellent.
“The concept is that you just do it for lengthy sufficient to the place we get actually snug in it,” he stated. “Then we will put groups in uncomfortable conditions and I believe that’s beginning to present.
“We’re in a position to put a variety of strain on guys and power them to make errors and that’s superior for us. It will get us going, it will get us working on offence.”
The Raptors recorded 9 steals in opposition to the Hornets whereas committing simply six turnovers themselves.
Within the fourth quarter, Jamal Shead pressured the Hornets into an eight-second backcourt violation, drawing celebration from the Toronto bench.
Ideally for the Raptors, these kinds of performs happen extra steadily, and extra meaningfully, subsequent season.
“We’re nowhere near being achieved, however I believe we’re on a very good wave of actually exhibiting that we will put in these stretches,” Poeltl stated.
“Now it’s a matter of taking that to the following step, doing it in opposition to higher opponents, doing it over an entire season, and hopefully the outcomes will comply with.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first revealed March 28, 2025.
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