Raptors embrace the road to success
Toronto proving to be an unruly visitor for opposing teams with third-best away record in league
SAN FRANCISCO — Seven consecutive road wins may not make them road warriors, but there is something about playing away from home that brings out the best in the Toronto Raptors.
A brutal six-game trip that spans both Christmas and New Year’s Day is the current beast the Raptors are up against and so far they are 2-0 with four left to play.
They ground out a tough one to start the trip in Utah and then had to grind out another in Portland despite the absence of the Blazers’ Damian Lillard.
That moves them to 11-3 away from the ACC this season, the third-best mark in the NBA behind only San Antonio and Wednesday’s opponent, the Golden State Warriors.
Finding a way to win even when the ball isn’t going through the hoop is never easy and especially not easy on the road, but the Raptors almost make it look so.
Monday in Portland, the Raptors shot just 33.7 per cent from the field and still managed a 95-91 win.
To put that into perspective with some help from our friends at the Elias Sports Bureau and a hat tip to Jim LaBumbard’s hard-working media relations staff, only two other teams in the past 38 years have scored at least 95 points in a non-overtime road win despite shooting below 35 per cent from the field.
So what is it about the road that just seems to agree with the Raptors?
“We just got a lot of tough, grind-it-out guys who love to go against the grain and fight that battle,” forward Terrence Ross said. “I just think that is what we are built for.”
Ross, by the way, was no worse for wear from the 360-degree dunk he performed Monday in Portland and then wound up having to leave the game with a sore wrist.
Like everyone on this team, he’s anxious to test himself in another hostile environment and he wasn’t about to let a little soreness keep him from doing that.
There’s really no one date you can circle and say this is where the Raptors became a good road team, but it could date back to the Rudy Gay years with the Raptors when road trips became team-bonding experiences.
The combination of Gay and Kyle Lowry and now Lowry and DeMar DeRozan have led this team to be one that embraces tough environments and uses these trips to become closer.
Earlier this year, Lowry arranged for a team dinner, flying in the man who served as the U.S. national team chef this summer for American Thanksgiving when the team was in Milwaukee.
But it’s more than just special outings that promote team bonding. This team likes the us-against-the-world mentality. “We have always been the underdog, so it’s just second nature for us to go out there and have that mindset when we are on the road,” DeRozan said.
Even going against the league’s superstar team Wednesday in the Golden State Warriors, there is more of an eagerness to see how the Raptors stack up with them than any sense of impending doom or intimidation.
“They are one of the best teams in the west and it’s always fun to play the best teams, especially on their home court,” Ross said. “You win that game, it gives you a supreme confidence.”
DeRozan felt much the same way when asked if he thought the Warriors provided the ultimate test to their road streak.
“Without a doubt,” he said. “This is how you want to be tested. Going against a team like (Golden State) that can really show you what you are capable of and set the bar for us, show us how much better we need to be. It should be another fun test.”
The Raptors have been close, losing the past three games against the Warriors by no more than six points. But they also haven’t won in Oakland since 2004.