The Raptors are being confronted with their flaws

From Louis’ piece:

“Poeltl has actually been rounding into form. He has strung together four strong games in his last five after quite a worthwhile output against Boston. He is recording chasedown blocks in transition and winning rebounds in crowds and doing just enough to help his team. But for how long will that last? Surely, things will swing back into Toronto’s favour at some point. Barnes will return, and he will be more efficient, and Murray-Boyles will stop fouling the bejesus out of everyone with the ball, and Barrett might make a triple eventually, and Leonard will have to play another game at some point. (Right…?) 

But will Poeltl still be playing well then? Will Leonard be able to string together multiple weeks of health, let alone months? Will Rajakovic be able to draw up out-of-timeout plays that don’t result in turnovers? Will he have the chutzpah (that he didn’t have against Boston) to actually bench highly paid team leaders who are harming the team’s chances to win? Will Toronto find its way to hot shooting … ever again?

Things have been bleak for the Raptors. They needed a win against a good team, and for a quarter and a half it looked like they were cruising to one against Boston. Instead Toronto is facing a freefall. At the moment, it feels like the stars have to align just for Toronto to be competitive with a good team. Once can be a moral victory. But Toronto’s loss to Boston was a catastrophe.

Things will stabilize. That’s how life works. But peak at the NBA standings, and the Raptors are already in a play-in spot with only very good teams (and the Atlanta Hawks) ahead of them. Can they outperform the defending champions over the remainder of the season? It’s too early to panic, but it’s more than late enough to say that the Raptors bet the farm on this season.”