The NBA season has begun, and it’s time to overreact to the first few games of the year. In the next edition of Basketball Insiders’ inter-conference rankings, we will take a look at the Atlantic Division. In these rankings, we rank each team from worst to first based on their early performances and how we
Toronto Raptors
ALERT. ALERT. ALERT. The NBA’s 2020-21 season is scheduled to begin in less than a month. If it feels like we just crowned the 2020 NBA Champions, that’s because we did. The Los Angeles Lakers secured their 17th championship on October 11, just over a month ago. Still, the new season kicks off in less
The Whiteboard is The Step Back’s daily basketball newsletter, covering the NBA, WNBA and more. Subscribe here to get it delivered to you via email each morning. Production in the preseason can be all over the map, with players feeling out unfamiliar roles, with unfamiliar teammates and against unfamiliar opponents, often experimenting with scoring or
The Raptors managed to retain Fred VanVleet in free agency, but will that be enough to keep them in the hunt for an Eastern Conference title? Masai Ujiri and the Raptors front office quietly had a lot of work to do this offseason. They managed to retain Fred VanVleet which was crucial for the team’s
OG Anunoby is already one of the NBA’s preeminent defenders. Can he become more than that and help the Toronto Raptors stay in the league’s upper tier? As the prevalence of supersized, ball-dominant offensive creators rises, so too does the importance of versatile defenders who can slow them and offensive role players who complement them.
JaVale McGee, Los Angeles Lakers, Marc Gasol, Toronto Raptors. (Mandatory Credit: Ashley Landis/Pool Photo via USA TODAY Sports) UFC 255: Deiveson Figueiredo says he brings excitement back to flyweight by Thomas Albano Twitter reacts to Cowboys ending losing streak and staying in playoff contention by Steven Kubitza The Los Angeles Lakers are trading JaVale McGee
Montrezl Harrell, the reigning Sixth Man of the Year, might be on the move this offseason. Very rarely would the reigning Sixth Man of the Year fresh off an appearance in the Western Conference semifinals consider leaving one of the biggest contenders in the 2020-21 season, but that’s exactly the situation that could present itself
Fred VanVleet is the best guard available in free agency this season. Will the Toronto Raptors be able to retain their versatile star? Any NBA team with cap space available this offseason will take a long look at the possibility of adding Fred VanVleet. He may not be a superstar capable of changing a franchise’s
Danilo Gallinari is exactly the type of player several contending teams need to add. While it took him a while to get going in the NBA, Danilo Gallinari has been one of the best stretch forwards for the last decade in the league. A 6-foot-10 big with a sweet three-point stroke and solid passing ability,
OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA – JUNE 13: Serge Ibaka #9 and Marc Gasol #33 of the Toronto Raptors (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) 5 candidates to replace Matt Nagy as Bears head coach by Brad Berreman The Lakers will try to add a veteran big man from Toronto this offseason. LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers
Toronto Raptors win Game 3 (Photo by Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images) Deshaun Watson offers to pay rent of elderly woman struggling due to COVID-19 pandemic by Amy Kaplan OG Anunoby hits improbable buzzer-beater to save Raptors from 3-0 deficit (Video) by John Buhler OG Anunoby won Game 3 for the Toronto Raptors and saved their
It doesn’t sound possible, but did you know that the crazy NBA summer of 2019 was, in fact, over a year ago? Wildly, in any normal, non-pandemic season, it all would have been over three months ago and, usually, media days would be right around the corner, but not this time. The 2019-20 NBA season
The Toronto Raptors stole Game 3 from the Boston Celtics to avoid a 3-0 deficit. What. A. Game. If you didn’t watch the first two games of this series, you wouldn’t have known that the Toronto Raptors were down 2-0. The defending champs put up a fight from start to finish, forging points in ways
Beijing Ducks’ Jeremy Lin (Photo by STR/AFP via Getty Images) The elastic soul of Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo and the Miami Heat by Kevin Yeung Jeremy Lin is coming back to the NBA. At 31 years old with declining health, it seemed as though Jeremy Lin’s wild NBA career was drawing to a close after
The Toronto Raptors kept their season alive with an insane Game 6 win over the Boston Celtics in double-overtime. Time and time again, the defending NBA champions found themselves up against the ropes in Game 6 against a hungry Boston Celtics squad. And every single time, the Toronto Raptors answered the bell with a counterpunch
The Boston Celtics pushed the Toronto Raptors to the brink of elimination with a Game 5 massacre. To start their second-round playoff series in the East, the Boston Celtics convincingly took the first two games. Then, the Toronto Raptors struck back by eking out a Game 3 win in the last 0.5 seconds before tying
Never give these Raptors a second chance. That’s a lesson Boston is learning the hard way The Toronto Raptors were down 0-2 against the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2019 Eastern Conference Finals, and came back to take the series by winning four straight games. This year, minus one Kawhi Leonard, Toronto is two games away
OG Anunoby, Toronto Raptors. (Photo by Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images) NBA Twitter freaked out after OG Anunoby’s buzzer beater to win Game 3 by Mark Powell UFC Vegas 9: Jalin Turner was worried about 2020 getting away by Zain Bando OG Anunoby deserves a statue after this game-winner over the Celtics. OG Anunoby stepped on
The Toronto Raptors swept the Brooklyn Nets with a win in Game 4. In the first winning sweep in franchise history, the Toronto Raptors routed the Brooklyn Nets in Game 4 on Sunday to advance to the second round of the 2020 NBA Playoffs. The Raptors’ franchise playoff-record 150 points were fueled by a historically
Jayson Tatum and Marcus Smart led the Boston Celtics to a 2-0 lead over the Toronto Raptors. After a somewhat surprising upset in Game 1, the Boston Celtics made sure the defending NBA champions knew they weren’t messing around with a narrow Game 2 victory on Tuesday to take a commanding 2-0 lead in this
In Game 1 of their second-round series, the Boston Celtics smothered the Toronto Raptors. The Toronto Raptors looked like world-beaters during their first-round playoff sweep of the Brooklyn Nets, but with a much tougher opponent on deck in the second round, the defending NBA champions looked just as vulnerable as the league’s other top contenders.
Honestly, this Boston-Toronto conference semifinals felt like it was five years in the making. Toronto came into its own in 2014, and Boston did the same the year following. Since then, the teams have always found themselves close to or at the very top of the Eastern Conference. Yet somehow, they never managed to cross
Which fringe players moved from the deep bench into playoff rotations during their team’s NBA bubble games? While teams like the Portland Trail Blazers, Memphis Grizzlies, Phoenix Suns, and San Antonio Spurs were going full-bore wire to wire in an attempt to secure a spot in the play-in game, other NBA teams used the seeding
In Game 1, the Toronto Raptors dominated and showed they are true contenders. The injury-ridden Brooklyn Nets were ultimately unable to compete with the defending champion Toronto Raptors in the first game of their 2020 NBA Playoffs series, as they lost 134-110. It was never really close with the Raptors opening up an early 10-2
The Nets played the Raptors much tougher in Game 2, but the result was the same — a solid win for Toronto. The Raptors dominated the Nets in Game 1, running away with a 24-point blowout win. Their offense was running on all cylinders and they easily put up 134 on the undermanned Nets. But
The Whiteboard is The Step Back’s daily basketball newsletter, covering the NBA, WNBA and more. Subscribe here to get it delivered to you via email each morning. The first four games of the 2020 NBA Playoffs gave us a bit of everything — epic scoring performances, a blowout, an overtime squeaker, controversial calls and the
No need for a long preamble. The first round of the NBA playoffs is finally here. Let’s break down the most interesting question that will define each series. Lakers vs. Blazers What happens when a stoppable force meets a movable object? The Lakers clinched the No. 1 seed in the West fairly early in the
LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLORIDA – AUGUST 01: LeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers drives against Norman Powell #24 of the Toronto Raptors during the first half of an NBA basketball game at The Arena in the ESPN Wide World Of Sports Complex on August 1, 2020 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. NOTE TO
Photo by Kim Klement-Pool/Getty Images Aaron Gordon and Kyle Lowry had words for each other after a hard foul. During Wednesday’s game between the Toronto Raptors and Orlando Magic, we saw some of the first signs of bubble tension during this NBA restart on the Walt Disney Resort campus. Early in the third quarter, with
James Harden, #13, Houston Rockets, (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images) In this week’s NBA Power Rankings, no one can defend DeWanna Bonner. Except maybe James Harden? Our new look NBA Power Rankings are back, a non-traditional structure for a non-traditional era of professional basketball. The world is no longer just about wins and losses and teams
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