With the playoffs getting closer, every bad loss and injury tweak gets magnified more and more. After The Toronto Raptors suffered a bad 21-point loss to Russell Westbrook and the Oklahoma City Thunder, they held a players-only meeting to try and hammer out some issues. Since the All-Star break the Raptors are 6-5 and have slid to the fourth spot in the Easter Conference behind the Cavaliers, Celtics, and Wizards.
Raptors head coach Dwane Casey, after arriving to his post-game press conference over 30 minutes late, declined to say much about the meeting.
Casey declines to comment on the nature of the discussion in the locker room post-game, and who was doing the talking
— Josh Lewenberg (@JLew1050) March 17, 2017
DeMar DeRozen, who was the only player to score more than 13 points in the loss to the Thunder, said that multiple players spoke up. Newly-acquired forward PJ Tucker echoed that sentiment too.
DeRozan indicated it was a players only meeting, said everybody spoke, wasn't just 1 or 2 voices
— Josh Lewenberg (@JLew1050) March 17, 2017
Tucker-"A lot of people talked a lot, it was a good conversation but enough talking. Weve got 14 games left, its time to put it into action"
— Josh Lewenberg (@JLew1050) March 17, 2017
The Raptors have 14 games remaining to try and push for a higher seed in the playoffs. They are still missing All-Star Kyle Lowry too, so the erratic play should be expected. However Toronto made two necessary trades for Serge Ibaka and Tucker to lock up the power-forward position and improve wing defense. The Ibaka trade filled a hole in the Raptors starting lineup and on paper looked like a great pickup.
The Raptors do not look like a the same team as last year when they made a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals. That road appears much more murky than last season, as the top of the East is much closer and more competitive than last season. Toronto has all of the tools to return to the Conference Finals, but games like last night cannot be a part of the equation.
