Tonight, the Toronto Raptors host the Washington Wizards, and the Raptors look to tie their franchise win streak, a record of nine straight wins. With the Toronto Raptors currently on an eight game winning streak, which is the second longest winning streak in franchise history, I thought I’d take a look at Raptors’ longest winning streak of nine games achieved in the 2001-2002 season, and compare and contrast the two teams and the manner in which each team attained the wins.
The Raptors’ franchise record nine game winning streak was a part of the team’s late season surge, winning 12 of their final 14 games, helping them secure the 7th seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs (due to a tie breaker with the Indiana Pacers, who ended up with the 8th seed). Five of those nine straight wins came on the road. When that nine game win streak ended, it propelled the Raptors to a 39-38 record getting them to above .500. That Lenny Wilkens’ coached Toronto Raptors team ended the regular season with a 42-40 record. They eventually lost in the first round of the 2002 NBA Playoffs to the Detroit Pistons (Winning two games, but losing three games to be eliminated).
Another interesting fact about the Raptors’ nine game winning streak, despite Vince Carter being on the team, he missed 22 games that season due to injury, and he did not play in a single game of that nine game streak. That said, he also missed seven games during the Raptors franchise’s second worst losing streak of 13 games suffered earlier in the same season.
Starting players during the nine game win streak:
Morris Peterson (Started all 9 games)
Antonio Davis (Started all 9 games)
Alvin Williams (Started all 9 games)
Dell Curry (Started 2 of the 9 games, reserve for 1, injured for 6 games)
Eric Montross (Started all 9 games)
Jerome Williams (Started 7 of the 9 games, reserve for 2)
Key Reserve/Bench players:
Keon Clark
Chris Childs
Hakeem Olajuwon
In addition to the franchise record nine game winning streak that season, the Raptors also suffered a 13 game losing streak that started immediately after the All-Star break that season (February 12, 2002), and wasn’t snapped until March 8, 2002. That 13 game losing streak is tied for the Raptors second longest losing streak in franchise history (Raptors have suffered a 13 game losing streak on three separate occasions). The Raptors’ longest losing streak is 17 games, which is owned by the 1997-98 team.
The team is currently on an eight game winning streak, as mentioned previously the franchise’s second longest streak. The first 4 games of the Raptors’ current 8 game win streak are all on the road, including the 4th game which was played in London, England vs. the Orlando Magic as a part of the NBA Global Games. Their latest four wins were all at home, after returning from England. The Raptors’ next three games will finish out a seven game home stretch to end the month of January, and then they will be back on the road for six straight games. The NBA All-Star break is in the middle of that road stretch, which of course allows a lot of the players to return ‘home’, as Toronto is hosting this year’s All-Star festivities.
Each player in the starting lineup has started in each game of the current eight game win streak:
DeMar DeRozan
Kyle Lowry
Jonas Valanciunas
James Johnson
Luis Scola
Key Reserve/Bench players:
Patrick Patterson
Cory Joseph
Terrence Ross
Bismack Biyombo
This season’s Toronto team isn’t a stranger to dealing with key players being hurt, as DeMarre Carroll is currently injured (out indefinitely), and is recovering from arthroscopic knee surgery at the beginning of January. He played in 23 of the 44 games played so far this season (starting 22) but did not play in any of the Raptors current eight game winning streak. Jonas Valanciunas has missed 17 games this season as well, due to a fractured hand, but returned to the team in late December and has played in each game since his return to the lineup.
This Raptors’ team has a current record of 29-15, good for first place in the Atlantic Division, and second in the Eastern Conference.
Having extra motivation is always a positive thing in trying to attain a goal. Currently the Raptors are 2.5 games behind the Cleveland Cavaiers for first place in the Eastern Conference. If they are able to overtake the Cavaliers for first place by the morning of February 1, 2016, Raptors head Coach Dwane Casey will earn the honour of coaching the 2016 Eastern Conference All-Star Team in Toronto.
As of this write up, both the Raptors and the Cavaliers each have three games left before February 1st. In order to overtake the Cavaliers for first place, Cleveland would have to lose all three games, and the Raptors need to win all three games. The Raptors will do everything they can to keep the streak alive, and I’m sure the Cavs will have a similar mindset in trying to maintain the Number One spot in the East.
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