The Rap-Up: Testing Darko’s Resolve

Toronto’s ridiculously easy March schedule will test Darko’s (ahem) roster creativity.

The Toronto Raptors are tanking on a galaxy-brain level right now.

While other teams rest their players with phantom injuries (more on Utah below), the Raptors have turned to a much more subtle approach: in-game tanking!

Toronto has held a fourth-quarter lead in four of its six games since the All-Star break, with double-digit fourth-quarter leads in three of those four. The results of those games: overtime loss, regulation victory (God help you, Phoenix), overtime loss, regulation victory (that could have gone to overtime).

Darko Rajakovic has taken on the persona that has defined Masai Ujiri’s approach in roster construction, balancing player/team development with winning basketball (in this case, losing basketball).

Whether it’s trotting out a lineup of RJ Barrett, Jonathan Mogbo, Jamal Shead, Ja’Kobe Walter, and Orlando Robinson during crunch time or trading fluid ball movement with isolation basketball, Darko has been pulling all the wrong levers for all the right reasons!

This very weird season will continue being weird, as we toggle our viewing interest (mid-game) between watching the team’s chemistry grow while also hoping to lose games. The cupcake schedule that lies ahead would normally be a welcome sight for a team making a playoff push. Instead, Darko’s resolve will continue being tested as he concocts different ways of setting up the Raptors for (acceptable) failure.

March 4 @ Orlando Magic (yes, again)

The injury bug continues hitting the Orlando Magic.

Earlier this season, star forwards, Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner, missed 34 and 20 games, respectively, with oblique strains. Now, Jalen Suggs will be out indefinitely after undergoing surgery on his left knee.

Thankfully for Magic fans, their team resides in the East. This is the same conference where the Chicago Bulls can enter 2025 with a 15-19 record (good for 10th in the East; 0.5 games ahead of the Philadelphia 76ers), proceed to lose 18 of its next 27 games….and gain 1.5 games on the Sixers!

Despite all of these setbacks, Jamahl Mosley deserves a ton of credit for keeping his team afloat with sound defensive principles. The Magic are #1 in points allowed per game and #2 in defensive rating!

Prediction

For a team full of wings, Toronto will be fairly light in the second game of this Orlando doubleheader. Gradey Dick will join Brandon Ingram, Ochai Agbaji, Jamison Battle, and Garrett Temple on the sidelines. Both teams will learn from their mistakes on Sunday — Toronto will let off the gas pedal earlier and/or Orlando will clean up the IQ/Poeltl coverage — as the Magic cover the -7.5 spread.

March 7 vs Utah Jazz

This is such an interesting matchup, mainly due to the implications on the draft lottery.

After the All-Star break, it looked like the Jazz would start making a Portland-esque ascent up the West standings after winning games against the Houston Rockets and Minnesota Timberwolves.

Before Sunday’s “clash” with fellow bottom-dweller, New Orleans Pelicans, the Utah Jazz inexplicably benched five of its top six players (based on minutes played per game)! Without Collin Sexton, Walker Kessler, Lauri Markkanen, John Collins, and Jordan Clarkson, Utah lost (shocking, I know) and are now two games clear of the Pelicans at the bottom of the West.

Prediction

Toronto has lost four straight against Utah, and seven of the last eight meetings. The Raptors have only defeated the Jazz once since the pandemic. If you remember, Toronto also beat Utah in the post-Rudy-Gobert-touching-every-microphone incident that preceded the NBA lockdown.

There are no limits to what Danny Ainge would do to annoy Raptors fans. If he could, he’d order Will Hardy to trot out a lineup comprised solely of players born in the ‘00s. Toronto wins and covers the -4.5 spread.

March 8 vs Washington Wizards

The Washington Wizards have won two of its last four games. That is not an exciting, or even news-worthy sentence. But when you’ve only won 11 out of 60 games, you’ll take whatever positive spin you can take.

As much as Raptors fans despised seeing Malcolm Brogdon and Marcus Smart in the opposing lineup over the years, you’ve got to feel a little bad for the former Celtics award winners (‘23 Sixth Man for Brogdon; ‘22 DPOY for Smart). They were both traded away from teams that won a championship shortly after (Milwaukee two seasons after Brogdon; Boston the following season after Smart). Now, both of these veterans — past their primes and in their 30s — are joined by Khris Middleton, languishing in Washington and hoping for a Flagg-sized saviour!

If you’re hoping for a tank-boosting loss to the NBA’s worst team, the Raptors also have this going for them:

Toronto could also just look at the Charlotte Hornets as a blueprint. Buzz City has accounted for 36% of Washington’s victories after completing the season sweep on Saturday.

Prediction

The Raptors have OWNED this matchup throughout Masai’s tenure. Toronto has won six of the last seven and 18(!) of the last 22 meetings. Washington kicks off a season-long seven-game road trip with a doubleheader at Scotiabank Arena.

This game completes a trifecta of terribleness as Utah, Washington, and Toronto all play each other. The Raptors “play it safe” on the back-end of a back-to-back and rest many players. Washington covers the +3.5 spread.

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Last Week’s Record: 0-4

Season Record: 24-37