Toronto’s loss to the Thunder highlights a troubling trend
The Toronto Raptorson Tuesday night, suffered a disappointing 116-107 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder at home. What made this loss even more disappointing for the Raptors was that the Thunder were denied; current champions were without Shai Giljus-Alexander and Jaylen Williams, but Toronto allowed Cason Wallace to score 27 points on 11-16 shooting from the field and 4-5 from beyond the arc.
This loss is not so worrisome when taken in isolation. The Thunder have a deep squad that remains dangerous despite the absence of SGA and J-Dub, and losing to the best team in the NBA is nothing to be ashamed of. But a deeper dive into the Raptors’ results reveals a very alarming trend that doesn’t bode well for their chances of making a deep playoff run.
As TSN’s Josh Levenberg pointed out, the Raptors are now 4-14 against top 10 NBA teams (in terms of win-loss record). Three of those wins came against the Cleveland Cavaliers before they brought in James Harden and rejuvenated the team, while the other came against OKC in late January.
The Raptors have routinely struggled against the best teams in the NBA, but the old adage says that to be the best, you have to beat the best. So far, Toronto doesn’t pass that test.
The Raptors may be a little short of being a legitimate contender
The Raptors may be facing the problem of their best shot creator being able to handle teams with elite defenses. Brandon Ingram has shown in the past that he can struggle when faced with heavy defensive pressure, and Toronto’s other key players aren’t at a level where they can help compensate for each other’s weaknesses.
This is not to say that Toronto is a bad team; they have a good 34-24 record for a reason. But front office search for stars on the trade market talk about how they view this current team.
2026-02-25 05:01:00
