That one kinda hurt, didn’t it? The shorthanded Toronto Raptors had no business being in last night’s game against the Denver Nuggets at all, and the fact that they were, and might have even stolen a victory if they’d gotten a little more — heck, anything at all — from their best player makes it a painful loss.
And that’s the thing — I fully expected a loss. No centres? No Fred VanVleet? No chance, right? When the Nuggets jumped out ahead early, I was OK with it. But when the Raptors climbed all the way back to tie the game at 60, and then hung around through the first 19 minutes of the second half, I had hope!