If it were easy to pinpoint the one thing that sent the Raptors stumbling through the first half of the NBA season, everyone would have figured it out. But it is not that simple.
The factors that got Toronto to the midpoint mark of the season Tuesday night with a disappointing 17-23 record are many and are so intertwined that to pick or blame one over the other is futile.
- The bench hasn’t produced well enough because a lot of backups have been forced into bigger roles than they should be.
- The starters haven’t been together long enough to create any legitimate cohesion with things changing weekly, if not game to game.