TORONTO — New year, new opportunity.
The Toronto Raptors have plenty to build on based on how they closed out 2025. Sure, they could get to April and look back at recent losses to the Washington Wizards or — on New Year’s Eve — to the Denver Nuggets when they were down four starters and feel some regrets.
For as encouraging as the 20-15 mark they brought into 2026 was, it’s hardly a start that guarantees anything.
Before the Raptors hosted the Atlanta Hawks for the first of two home games Saturday, they could comfort themselves by noting that even after posting a 6-8 record in December (after a 12-3 November), they were still in fourth place in the Eastern Conference.
But not all standings are created equal. The Raptors were only 2.5 games ahead of the ninth-place Chicago Bulls and 3.5 games ahead of the 10th-place Hawks.
It’s still a good spot to be in, particularly given the Raptors were 8-27 at this point last season.
But nothing can be taken for granted.
On Saturday, the Raptors were playing the first of their 15 games in 27 days this month, with nine of them on the road.
It’s not a murderer’s row of opponents. According to John Schumann of NBA.com, the Raptors’ schedule for January rates 17th in terms of difficulty, with their opponents having an accumulated winning percentage of .494.
And to their benefit, they have a league-high (according to Schuman) five games in which they have a “rest advantage.” Games where they are playing an opponent that is on the second night of a back-to-back.
Needless to say, if Toronto is going to get to February still holding onto a top four seed in the East — or at least a playoff spot — it’ll need to squeeze every advantage it can.
Such as, for example, a home game after two days of rest against a Hawks team that was playing on the second night of a back-to-back and without Kristaps Porzingis or Trae Young. Porzingis’ durability issues aren’t new, and whether the Hawks are better or worse with their four-time all-star point guard is in the line-up (they were 2-8 with him sidelined before Saturday), is up for debate.
But a tired road team down two talented players should play into the home team’s hands.
Well, through three quarters it looked like the Raptors were in danger of fumbling a schedule gift, the kind of mistake that good teams don’t make.
But something clicked in the fourth. The Raptors tapped out of the fun-to-watch-as-long-as-you’re-not-coaching game of glorified pick-up, where the two teams scored 213 points on 55 per cent shooting combined, and were rewarded with a 134-117 blowout win in a game they only led by one starting the fourth.
The key was defensive effort and execution.
Toronto forced three turnovers in the first minute of the fourth and held Atlanta without a point for the first 5:11 of the period. By then, the Raptors led by 17, and the Hawks couldn’t make up the gap, finishing with just 11 points on 4-of-19 shooting with eight of their 16 turnovers for the game.
Meanwhile, the Raptors’ offence continued to chug along, with RJ Barrett — in his third game back after missing five weeks with a knee injury — scoring 12 of his 29 points down the stretch, including a pair of threes and a lay-up in transition in the space of two minutes that pushed the Raptors lead to 15.
The Raptors shot 53.3 per cent from the floor for the game, 12-of-21 from three and made 24 of their 26 free throws too.
As for Barrett, it was not only his best offensive showing since his injury but his highest point total of the year. But he said it was the defence that made it happen.
“I think I kind of got lost in the game. Not just the game, but the fourth quarter,” said Barrett, who was 11-of-19 from the floor, including 4-of-8 from three. “That’s really what it was. Going back and forth, scoring. All right. But nobody’s playing defence. That fourth quarter, that’s Raptors basketball. So that felt good to be a part of, you know, being on the court for that. Like, that’s who we are, that’s who we need to be.”
The Raptors’ season will likely hinge on how close and how often they can play to their identity as a ball-hawking, transition-based team. It’s what drives their offence and compensates for their lack of traditional paint presence on defence — especially when Jakob Poeltl remains out with his back problems.
The more they play that way, the more likely they are to uphold their status as the surprise team in the Eastern Conference.
It means the kind of effort they got Saturday from Brandon Ingram — who kept the Raptors afloat for the first three quarters when he scored 27 of his 29 points on a steady supply of more and more difficult mid-range jumpers over helpless Hawks defenders, punctuated with the odd pump fake, drive and dunk — didn’t go to waste.
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It was Ingram’s mid-range shot-making that carried the Raptors’ offence for the first three quarters before the defence provided the spark necessary. The Raptors led after the first quarter and at half time, but the basket trading strategy came back to haunt them in the third quarter when Canadian national team star Nickeil Alexander-Walker put on a show in his hometown by putting up 13 of his game-high 31 points, joining his cousin Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (twice) as one of five Canadians to put up 30 or more in Toronto, along with Barrett, Shaedon Sharpe and Rick Fox.
It was fun to watch, but it’s no way for a serious basketball team to live, especially when rested and hosting a short-handed team on a back-to-back.
“This is going to be very interesting (game) film,” said Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic. “Because we had one quarter where we were allowed 41 points (the second, when the Raptors scored 42) and one where we allowed 11 points (the fourth). And that comparison is going to be very daring for us. We need to look at it and really try to understand what it takes to win an NBA game and win against a really good team.”
We’ll see how deeply the lessons resonate on Monday when the Raptors host the Hawks again and throughout the month as things get harder still.
Alexander-Walker’s leadership: It’s not even been half a season, but Alexander-Walker seems to have found a long-term home after signing with the Hawks in free agency. He’s delivered on the court, putting up 20.4 points, more than double his career average, along with career-bests in assists (3.4) and steals (1.0), and has emerged as a veteran voice on a young team.
His message post-game was that for the Hawks to reach their considerable potential, they need to find a way to manage games on back-to-backs, especially after coming off an impressive win over the New York Knicks on Friday. “It’s knowing when you’re on a back-to-back, there are small things that have to be done to prevent ourselves from hurting ourselves the way we did. They turned defence to offence just like that, especially off turnovers … we’re growing as a young team making sure we can handle the things we can control …”
Happy New Year: Sandro Mamukelashvili has been one of the Raptors’ most consistent performers this season. Which is why his no-show on New Year’s Eve — scoreless on five shots in 12 minutes on a night the Raptors needed someone to show up from their bench — was almost shocking. Rajakovic said part of the problem with the good-natured Georgian is that “he is an outstanding human being,” and that he cares almost too much and can get too hard on himself.
Mamukelashvili accepted the premise: “I am very hard on myself because I really want to win, and I want to be a player that helps the team win. So (losing to the Nuggets) was definitely tough, especially going into the new year. But I was kind of telling myself I was going to leave that in 2025.”
He did just that on Saturday, coming off the bench for 13 points while grabbing 12 rebounds and a career-best eight assists to finish a game-high plus-27.
Being a rookie isn’t easy: twice in the first quarter, Hawks youngster Asa Newell got caught out when more experienced players manufactured fouls on him. The first was when Barrett found himself stymied against him in the post. When Newall reached in, Barrett squeezed the rookie’s left arm under his own left arm, pivoted hard to his right and put up a shot that had little chance of going in but had the effect of looking like Newell was impeding him.
Barrett got the call and could barely hide his smirk as he went to the line. Later in the quarter in was Scottie Barnes who was in a tight spot in the paint. Without a clean look, Barnes pivoted, pumped faked and then stepped into Newell’s body. As soon as Newell’s arms came down, Barnes brought the ball up, and Newell was whistled again on a play where the person he was defending had no real shot and no real intention of shooting but was able to get himself to the free-throw line.
