Raptors Can Sense 'Turning Point' Before Nuggets Game

The Toronto Raptors are currently enjoying a three-game win streak where they have demonstrated that they deserve to be a playoff team.

Teams in the NBA should want to play their best basketball at this time of the year, and that's exactly what the Raptors are doing. Raptors forward RJ Barrett believes this win streak has given the team a new and fresh perspective.

“The past three games have been a very good turning point for us,” Barrett said via Sportsnet reporter Michael Grange. “We had a little lull there, trying to figure things out and we’ve figured it out. We’ve seen what we need to do and we’ve done it for the past three games. So now, having figured that out, we just have to try to do that consistently.”

Raptors Figuring the Formula Out

Before the three-game win streak, the Raptors lost six of eight games, with their only two victories coming against the rebuilding Washington Wizards and Dallas Mavericks. It wasn't inspired basketball, and the team appeared to hit a wall. Now they are acting like the Kool-Aid man breaking through that wall.

The Raptors are taking things more seriously, and that is helping the Raptors get closer to where they want to be.

“I thought that all the guys, the starters, they took this game very, very seriously and off the bench (everyone) did a really, really good job," Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic said after the team's latest win via Grange. “So one complete game.”

They had one complete game against the Bulls, and that is all the team needs to focus on every matchup. Get a complete game against whoever is in front of them and move on to the next. If they can take things one game at a time, the streak won't become a daunting task. Instead, it will become what's expected of them because they know how to play the proper way for 48 minutes.

That's how the playoffs will be, so it's a good way to get things right before the games really start to count.

The Raptors are set to face off against Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets at 9 p.m. ET inside Ball Arena. Fans can watch the game on Sportsnet or stream it on NBA League Pass.

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