Toronto Raptors vs. Dallas Mavericks: What does life after Pizza Party look like?

The Toronto Raptors are on the hunt for their fourth consecutive win tonight, but it will be Doncic and the Mavericks in their way.

Did you enjoy your pizza, Raptors fans?

Still riding the high of their third consecutive win Monday night over the Indiana Pacers, the Toronto Raptors are back home for a four game stand. It starts tonight, when they welcome birthday boy Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks to town.

Of course, now that the Raptors have won three in a row for the first time this season, this young squad should be hungry for more. They’ve looked more cohesive than ever since returning from the All-Star Break, and that energy seems to be leading to more success.

Still, this young team will have to face two of the league’s biggest threats — Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving.

Toronto definitely has the advantage here, as the Mavericks will be playing the second night of a road back-to-back, after they lost in Cleveland last night. Yet, the anger of losing in the last few minutes when Max Strus absolutely went OFF shooting from three may be the boost they need coming into this game in Toronto.

Still, this will be a great opportunity for the young Toronto Raptors to say “hey, watch out for us, we are building something.”

As far as rebuilds go, the Raptors’ has chugged along quite well, considering. They traded out eight players this season prior to the deadline, put all their hope onto a 22-year-old, and are the 12th seed this season and yet, watching them is… fun?

One of the biggest criticisms from fans last season was that this team was no fun to watch, they had little chemistry, and it was getting hard to stay invested. Now, the fans are ordering pizzas at 10pm on a Monday night because a joke went viral. A joke that blew up so much the players themselves were getting in on the gag, joking about pizza themselves. A joke that got so far that the Raptors head coach is being asked postgame if he like pineapple on his pizza (a resounding NO from Darko). So yeah, the Raptors are 12th in the East, but there is fun being had.

Maybe more important? There’s hope for this young roster.

So now that this team has three wins in a row under their belts, chemistry is growing, and development is on track, what’s next? What does life after Pizza Party look like for this team, who for months had been gunning to get three in a row?

The beauty about this team and this season is that expectations are fairly low. Even if they try their best and still end up out of play-in contention, no one will be truly disappointed. That’s what is expected right? If they blow everyone away and do better than predicted, that’s just good omens for the future. Either way, the future seems more bright the more this team connects.

The question tonight will be if they can sustain their longest streak of the season.

Here are the game details:

How to Watch: 7:30pm EST, Sportsnet

Lineups:

Toronto: Scottie Barnes, Immanuel Quickley, Gary Trent Jr., RJ Barrett, Jakob Poeltl

Dallas: Luka Doncic, PJ Washington, Dereck Lively II, Kyrie Irving, Josh Green

Injuries:

Toronto: Jakob Poeltl (Questionable – ankle)

Dallas: no info after back to back

*****

Triple-Double Scottie

Another highlight from the Pizza Party Game was Scottie Barnes’ fourth triple-double of the season. He passed LeBron James in the race for most triple doubles this season and is the only Toronto Raptor to have four triple-doubles in a single season.

It’s very possible he could get more in the last six weeks of the season as well. His skill set is uniquely built to allow him to score a lot of points and grab rebounds, but his passing ability is also up there.

He continues to get better everyday, a huge relief for fans and surely the franchise as a whole now that they have placed their hopes on him to lead the team.

Gradey Dick for Three

This could also turn into a career night for Gradey Dick. If he scores in double digits against Dallas, it will be first time in his career to score 10+ points in three straight games.

Gradey has been fantastic as of late, the development he’s been diligent about all season starting to show on the court. He is more confident, his shooting has been fantastic, and he finally has a more solid role on this team.

In the game against Indiana, Dick scored 18 points in 23 minutes on 7-9 shooting from the field and 4-4 (100%!!) shooting from three. The rookie seems to be adjusting well to the NBA, something we knew would happen soon (bye haters!)

Building Chemistry

Like mentioned above, one of the biggest goals for the Raptors this season is to build chemistry and plan for the future. That plan looks more and more solid by the day.

Betting on Scottie Barnes, Immanuel Quickley, and RJ Barrett is already proving to be a good wager. Gradey Dick has been fantastic, and even some of the newer guys like Ocahi Agbaji are incorporating well into the mix.

It’s already looking like, with time and practice, this team will be in a winning situation pretty soon.