All year long, there's been a sense that nothing the Toronto Raptors can do during the regular season means very much — that they'd already achieved October-to-April success, and that we'll only be able to take them seriously if they can advance past the postseason's opening round. There was one regular-season goal that Dwane Casey's club had yet to accomplish, though — one mark no Raptors team had ever hit — and they crossed it off the list on Wednesday night.
Toronto beat the Atlanta Hawks, 105-97, at Air Canada Centre on Wednesday, improving to 50-24 on the season — the first 50-win season in the 21-year history of the Raptors franchise. This also marks the third straight season in which Casey's Raps have set a new franchise high-water mark for wins, from 48 in 2013-14 to 49 last season to 50 (and counting) this year.
(The Raptors weren't the only team to make a bit of history on Wednesday. With their 100-92 win over the wounded New Orleans Pelicans, the San Antonio Spurs improved to 38-0 at AT&T Center, giving Gregg Popovich's crew the best home record to start a season in NBA history.)
The Raptors might have been the last NBA franchise to top the 50-win plateau, but they did so in style, dominating Atlanta — who entered the night's action with the East's second-best record after the All-Star break, and its No. 1-ranked defense — through three quarters with crisp ball movement, strong play from the All-Star backcourt of DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry, sharp defense that forced 18 Hawk turnovers leading to 25 points, and timely contributions from the deep bench of contributors imported by general manager Masai Ujiri.
A 17-2 early-fourth run from Atlanta's second unit cut what had been a 24-point Toronto advantage down to single-digits with just under six minutes to play. From there, though, an 8-2 flurry fueled by DeRozan, Lowry and center Jonas Valanciunas pushed the lead back to 15 with 3:09 remaining, and the Hawks never got closer than three possessions after that.
DeRozan had the Hawks' perimeter D off-balance all night, mixing in aggressive attacking to generate fouls (5-for-6 from the charity stripe) with his signature smooth midrange work and an advancing acumen as a catch-and-shoot target beyond the arc (3-for-4 from 3-point range) to score a game-high 26 points. He added six assists, five rebounds and three steals in 37 minutes of work, carrying the scoring load on yet another off shooting night for Lowry, who continues to be troubled by a sore right elbow from which fluid was drained on Tuesday.
The point guard missed 15 of his 19 field goal attempts, but contributed in other ways. He made a concerted effort early on to set the table for Valanciunas — who was too big a load in the middle for Al Horford and Paul Millsap to handle with deep post position, and who exploited it to the tune of 19 points and nine rebounds — and worked diligently to provide dribble penetration that could create high-percentage looks (whether for himself, via dump-offs on the interior or through kickouts to open shooters on the perimeter) or earn trips to the line. Lowry finished with 17 points, 11 assists, six rebounds and two steals to help lead the Raptors to a 3-0 season sweep of the Hawks, who fell for just the second time in their last 11 games to drop to 45-31, putting them just a half-game up on the Miami Heat in the race for the No. 3 spot in the East.
Terrence Ross found his way back into the rotation and made the most of it, scoring 13 points with three rebounds and three boards in 23 minutes off the bench. Patrick Patterson kept up his stellar play with nine points, seven rebounds, three assists and some sound frontcourt defense. And rookie Norman Powell, pressed into action on the wing as Casey continues to wait out the return of long-injured swingman DeMarre Carroll, continued to open eyes with his athleticism and two-way aggressiveness, adding 10 points, four rebounds, two assists, two steals and one emphatic finish after a slick move in the open floor.
Toronto once again sits two games behind the Cleveland Cavaliers for the No. 1 seed in the conference with eight games remaining. The odds of them topping LeBron James and company before regular season's end remain long, and come mid-April, the Raptors will face all the same questions about their postseason fortitude. (That goes double if Lowry, who has now missed 50 of his last 65 shots since suffering his elbow injury, doesn't look demonstrably better shooting by the time Round 1 tips off.) But that was always going to be true, and as valuable as it is to consider tomorrow's problems, it's also plenty worth it to celebrate today's victories. The best Raptors team we've ever seen just made franchise history. Enjoy it, Toronto fans.
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