The Toronto Raptors began their four-game home stand on Nov. 13. Toronto faced a lowly Washington Wizards team to kick things off.
But, it went south quickly on the Raptors. They fell behind 23-points to a 2-7 Wizards squad. With no O.G. Anunoby and Gary Trent Jr., it was apparent that Toronto was missing their production on both ends.
The Raptors trailed by 19, 64-45 at halftime. But, bad teams find ways to lose games and that is what happened in the second half.
Pascal Siakam took the game over and scored 39 points, 11 rebounds and 7 assists on 15-24 from the field. He scored 22 of his 39 in the 3rd quarter and hit the go-ahead shot with 7.6 seconds left in the game.
After another crazy comeback, Toronto has only had three wins in franchise history when trailing by 19 or more at halftime. Two of those wins have come this month:
The @Raptors have only had three wins in franchise history when trailing by 19+ at halftime.
Two of those three have come this month. 👀#Raptors | #WeTheNorth pic.twitter.com/ICEypTWEEr
— Basketball Reference (@bball_ref) November 14, 2023
The Raptors completed a 22-point comeback on the road against the San Antonio Spurs on Nov. 5.
Their other comeback win after trailing by 19+ at halftime came in 2010 on the road against the Detroit Pistons.
It has been an interesting 10 games for the Raptors as they have managed to be .500 with a 5-5 record. There’s no denying that the Raptors have shown tremendous fight and resiliency.
To illustrate how the second half went for the Wizards, there was an instance of Kyle Kuzma begging for a challenge from his coaches and it left the Wizards on a 4v5 and Toronto scored easily:
The Wizards ended up playing 4v5 on this play because of Kyle Kuzma 😅pic.twitter.com/xIjpN64Vn8
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) November 14, 2023
While the Raptors would have liked this game to be managed better in the first half, a win is a win to begin their home stand.
Next up for the Raptors
The home stand continues on Nov. 15 against Giannis Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard and the Milwaukee Bucks.
These two teams matched up on Nov. 1 in Scotiabank Arena, where the Raptors handled the Bucks easily in a 130-111 win. Expect a closer game as the Raptors could be without O.G Anunoby and Gary Trent Jr.
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