The Toronto Raptors will look to show some fight when they host the Phoenix Suns on Friday night.
Toronto is returning home from a quick two-game western road swing that saw them lose back-to-back games against the Houston Rockets and New Orleans Pelicans.
Watch the Raptors battle the Suns LIVE at 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT on TSN1/4, TSN.ca, and the TSN App.
The team’s 122-111 loss to the Pelicans on Wednesday was exacerbated in the late stages of the fourth quarter when Pelicans guard Dejounte Murray shook off the defending Jamal Shead, causing him to fall. Murray hit the open three with Shead on the ground, then stood over Shead and taunted him by yelling in his face.
The incident led to a brief scuffle between the two clubs, but Toronto’s lack of push back has been criticized throughout the basketball world as the team has struggled down the stretch of the regular season.
“I don’t think it needs to turn into a fight like it may have in the days of Charles Oakley, when every team had their own physical veteran enforcer,” TSN’s Josh Lewenberg said on SportsCentre on Thursday. “But, I do think there needed to be some response and some push back to send a message, not only to the Pelicans, but to the rest of the NBA, saying ‘You’re not going to punk us like that.’”
Lewenberg points out that the ability to stand up for themselves needs to come from the leadership of the team, which falls on stars like Scottie Barnes and Brandon Ingram. However, he doesn’t see anyone on the Raptors roster who can easily fit the role of holding opposing players accountable.
“This would not be happening on [DeMar DeRozan’s] watch,” said Lewenberg. [He] was soft spoken, but he was the last guy you’d want to disrespect on the court. Same with Kyle Lowry or Serge Ibaka.
“Barnes and Ingram are both soft spoken by nature. They’ve grown a lot as leaders, but this is a big part of leadership. The two toughest players on the team are a sophomore point guard who is generously listed as 6-foot-1 in Shead, and a rookie 20-year-old big man in Collin Murray-Boyles.”
Lewenberg also points out that this isn’t the first time their opponent has shown disrespect towards the Raptors. Earlier this season, New York Knicks swingman Josh Hart taunted the Raptors bench after getting fouled on a made three-pointer right in front of it.
Like the incident with Murray, the team had a muted response.
“If you show guys that you can get walked all over – in [the Pelicans’] case literally – teams are going to try you,” said Lewenberg.
To add insult to injury, the Raptors have been struggling with the postseason quickly approaching. They have lost six of their past eight games and have dropped from third in the Eastern Conference to seventh in just six weeks.
Toronto has 17 games remaining in the regular season, including five against teams currently in the top 10 in the NBA. The Raptors are 4-18 against that group as the teams around them in the standings are playing their best basketball down the stretch.
“Former Raptors Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady were in Toronto last week and they were asked the question, ‘Who would want to face the Raptors in the playoffs?’,” said Lewenberg. “With respect, who wouldn’t want to play them right now?
“The Raptors are watching their once promising feel-good season slip away, and nobody is really standing up to say, ‘Enough is enough, we’re not going to go out this way.’ They’re fading at the most important time of the season when the teams around them are playing their best basketball.”
Toronto has a 36-29 record and is currently the top play-in team after the Orlando Magic and Miami Heat surpassed them in the standings with winning streaks. They are only a game and a half up on the red-hot Atlanta Hawks and Philadelphia 76ers and three games ahead of the Charlotte Hornets.
If the play-in began today, they would take on the Hawks in a one game series to move into the playoffs.
Meanwhile, the Suns are also in the midst of a strong stretch, winning their past four games and seven of their past 10 games entering their matchup with the Raptors.
They will be playing their second of back-to-back games after defeating the Indiana Pacers 123-108 on Thursday.
Phoenix is led by superstar guard Devin Booker, who leads the team by averaging 25.3 points per-game to go along with 6.1 assists. They also feature Mississauga, Ont., native Dillon Brooks, who is in the midst of a career season, averaging 20.9 points and 3.7 rebounds.
The Suns currently sit seventh in the Western Conference with a 39-27 record as the highest seeded play-in team and are only one game back of the Minnesota Timberwolves to move directly into the playoffs.
