Raptors Report Week 4: Toronto Finally Playing Together, Getting Wins

The Raptors had a great week, winning three out of four games, and we are finally starting to see some chemistry with this team.

The Raps traded their starting point guard Jarrett Jack along with Marcus Banks and David Andersen for Jerryd Bayless and Peja Stojakovic. To see the breakdown of the deal click here.

They started the week against the Washington Wizards on the road and got killed. It was disgusting, and that was their only loss of the week.

The next day, against the Philadelphia 76ers, the Raptors got a nice win, playing well on the road. 

Friday night the Raptors beat the Rockets, and once again, offense was good, defense was decent and they came away with the win.

Sunday afternoon the Raptors had their biggest test of the week against the Boston Celtics at home. They were without Jarrett Jack and any of the players they acquired from the trade, but Leandro Barbosa did return. The Raptors played great and managed to escape a raging Boston comeback and come away with a one-point victory.

Record: 3-1

Performance on a scale of 1-10: 8

Positives

Andrea Bargnani has been absolutely scorching and should be in contention for player of the week honors. The Raptors are finally looking healthy, with the exception of Ed Davis, and are finally playing good basketball and starting to close games a little bit better.

They came away with some great wins this week, and their schedule is looking much better than earlier on.

Jose Calderon has been playing good basketball, and defensively, this team is better than last year.

Reggie Evans is a monster. Enough said.

Negatives

I really thought the Raptors were going to lose that Boston game. They can never seem to close out games, Bargnani becomes nonexistent and nobody can step up. Luckily, they pulled out the win, but they will have to be better down the stretch if they want to win close games.

Overall, this was a great week, and hopefully this is just the beginning for this young team.

GO RAPS!