Title: Raptors breathe sigh of relief as 15-game losing skid ends
Date: April 5, 2024
Original Source: Sportsnet
Synopsis: In my latest at Sportsnet, I wrote about the Raptors beating the Bucks, snapping a 15-game losing streak, and avoiding setting franchise history for futility.
When a team has lost 15 consecutive games, a hyperawareness sets in about the different ways a loss can come about. A missed open three feels like the last clean look that will ever be generated. A five-second inbounding violation feels like several turnovers at once. An offensive rebound surrendered feels sure to result in an immediate three. It’s not until the final buzzer sounds that a deep exhale can escape.
On Friday in Milwaukee, the Toronto Raptors earned permission to let that breath out.
The 117-111 win against the Bucks means this version of the Raptors won’t tie – or even break – the longest losing streak in franchise history, which stands at 17. More than a month since their last win, the Raptors got to celebrate a job well done and let the heavy weight of losing, and the heavy spectre of infamy, off their shoulders. The record itself may not matter to each individual, but it’s certainly something the team as a whole would have liked to avoid, especially so late in what’s been a difficult season on many fronts.
Blake Murphy Sports Writing 