| Team | Record | GB |
| Milwaukee | 53-12 | --- |
| Toronto | 46-18 | 6.5 |
| Boston | 43-21 | 9.5 |
| Miami | 41-24 | 12.0 |
The Toronto Raptors and the NBA are back, this time from the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex in Orlando in COVID-19 rich Florida. The Raptors have the second-toughest schedule down the road toward finishing the 2019-2020 regular season. You might be asking, even screaming, about why the NBA is playing REGULAR SEASON games during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic when they could easily start with 16 teams (unlike the NHL).
The NBA didn't play enough regular-season games for the TV contracts (around 70 games). The teams would have to give money back to the regional sports networks and could impact future years on those TV contracts. This doesn't really apply in Canada but for the American-based teams.
Remember the greed in this decision, especially if a Raptors player gets injured or tests positive for COVID-19 in those regular season games.
The NBA starts up tonight; the Raptors don't play until Saturday night.
The Raptors are the #2 seed in the Eastern Conference, 6½ games behind Milwaukee. The Bucks shouldn't fear being chased down for the #1 seed. Toronto is 3 games ahead of Boston with 8 games on the schedule. A tie could happen if Toronto goes 5-3 and Boston goes 8-0. A Raptors win on August 7 and a relaxed Milwaukee team on August 10 would help a lot.
| Toronto Raptors regular season | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Opponent | Time | U.S. TV | Cdn TV | |||||||||||||
| August 1 | LA Lakers | 8:30p | ESPN | Citytv, Sportsnet One | |||||||||||||
| August 3 | Miami | 1:30p | NBA TV | Sportsnet One | |||||||||||||
| August 5 | Orlando | 8p | Sportsnet One | ||||||||||||||
| August 7 | Boston | 9p | TNT | TSN | |||||||||||||
| August 9 | Memphis | 2p | TSN | ||||||||||||||
| August 10 | Milwaukee | 6:30p | ESPN | Sportsnet One | |||||||||||||
| August 12 | Philadelphia | 6:30p | ESPN | TSN | |||||||||||||
| August 14 | Denver | 1:30p | TSN | ||||||||||||||
All times Eastern.
Reliving the celebration of the 2019 NBA champion Toronto Raptors
How COVID-19 is impacting Canadian sports
2019 Toronto Raptors NBA defending champions preview
CanadianCrossing.com NBA coverage
When the regular season was suspended on March 11, the #2 seed Toronto Raptors were scheduled to play the #7 Brooklyn Nets.
All of this is subject to change due to the impact of COVID-19. This is a serious virus and has done considerable damage, more in the United States than in Canada. We would like to see the Toronto Raptors win a second consecutive NBA championship. We are more concerned about how well the Raptors will do as human beings, getting through the season with minimal physical damage.
logo credit: Toronto Raptors
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