Raptors Facing 'Adversity' Going Into Pistons Game

The Toronto Raptors are fresh off a big victory that should breathe some life back into the team.

The Raptors have struggled in recent weeks, falling out of the top six in the Eastern Conference and moving into the Play-In tournament picture. Raptors All-Star forward Scottie Barnes is proud of how the team has responded to moving down in the standings.

"It’s pretty amazing. We hit adversity,” Barnes said via Sportsnet reporter Michael Grange. “We had two options, to either quit (or) go out there and fight. This just shows the character of this team. We went out there and fought and got a dub. This was a great game. They had us in that first half. We fought back; we made winning plays.”

Raptors Fighting After Fall in Standings

Toronto Raptors forward RJ Barrett celebrates with guard Ja'Kobe Walter. | Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images

The Raptors haven't looked like the version of themselves that came to play earlier in the season, but the team's most recent loss against the New Orleans Pelicans shook the squad to its core. Now the Raptors are feeling the pressure, and it's time to figure out if they will crumble or form a diamond.

“I think it was an urgency to compete and most of all stay together,” Raptors forward Brandon Ingram said of the recent loss via Grange.

“We've been through some times where the other team was scoring offensively and we weren't able to stop the bleeding or find a rhythm on the offensive end. At those times, we would put our heads down a little bit and sort of take it upon ourselves to try to fix it. I think tonight we just stayed connected.”

The Raptors could have very easily lost to the Phoenix Suns in their last game, but they stuck with the program in the final minutes of the matchup and came out with the win. RJ Barrett was impressed with how the team responded to the Suns.

“That’s the fight we need to have,” Barrett said via Grange. “A lot of these games we have fought and just come up short and this game, we fought all night long, and that’s the result. That’s just the intensity we gotta have.”

If the Raptors keep up with this intensity, they will be a very difficult team to beat in the final month of the season. The Raptors need to stack some wins in the next four weeks if they want to get back into the top six in the Eastern Conference, especially with the Orlando Magic and Miami Heat both playing as well as they are.

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