Title: Raptors re-establish their identity as fighters — evident even in loss to 76ers
Date: February 23, 2021
Original Source: The Athletic
Synopsis: In my latest for The Athletic Toronto, I wrote about the Raptors learning more and more about themselves of late, even in a loss to the 76ers.
Danny Green had to have known better.
When the Toronto Raptors begin playing like they were late in Tuesday’s 109-102 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, you don’t take risks. You don’t gamble. You don’t leave your feet for a pass, pick up your dribble with your body toward the sideline or allow yourself to be angled toward a second defender just past the half-court line. When the Raptors get to doing … that … you take the safest possible route at all turns.
Green, a former Raptor who was often a part of those whirring, trapping, frustrating late-game defensive stands either forgot or couldn’t help himself. Maybe the fact that his Sixers were still up eight insulated him from the risk-reward calculation, or maybe he’s just survived the worst late-game turnover imaginable, so he’s now permanently aggressive at the table.
Blake Murphy Sports Writing 