It’s been one test after another for the Toronto Raptors this season, one obstacle after another.
Remarkably, they’ve passed every test. Manoeuvred over or around every obstacle.
To those who saw this coming, who imagined the resilient Raps leading a pack of five teams fighting for the No. 2 seed in the East in the first week of February, we salute you. Last fall, it certainly seemed that few in the basketball industry predicted the NBA’s defending champions would be faring this well.
Unlike last year — when the regular season was viewed as a long 82-game warmup for the truly meaningful competition, the playoffs — this season has been an important gauge of how this Toronto squad would survive the loss of Kawhi Leonard, not to mention Danny Green.