Blake Murphy Sports Writing

There are only so many levers that can be pulled.

The NBA can fine a team for over-resting a player who they deem could be playing, only for the team to play him just a half and sit him down from there. A team can begin to semi-regularly rest otherwise healthy rotation players with an eye toward the lottery, only for their replacements to step up admirably. A coach can even close with a lineup that’s not his best five, and see a group of rookies, call-ups, and late signings close out a victory nonetheless.

Wherever the league, the lottery odds, and teams shift the incentives and responses to those incentives, there will still be games to be played, often with players for whom the individual results mean the world. Players just play. If, this late in the year, the players you play — after sifting through injuries, rest and tanking levers — are hungrier, sharper, and just better, there’s not a whole lot else you can do, day-to-day.

Such is the story of the last two weeks for the Toronto Raptors, who have now won six of their last seven after defeating the Utah Jazz 126-118 on Friday. Doing so despite a half-dozen injuries, some rest days, and closing lineups that almost literally closed G League games this year.