The Toronto Raptors played the 2020-2021 NBA season like the team was distracted by a pandemic and being thousands of kilometres away from home.
You could point to a 1-13 March as not helping the cause. A 135-111 "home" win over Denver on March 24 was the lone bright spot of the month.
The team finished 27-45, 12th in the Eastern Conference and 5th in the Atlantic Division. The Raptors finished the season losing their last 7 games.
Amalie Arena in St. Petersburg, FL was the home of the Toronto Raptors due to the border closure. The Raptors had a decent 16-20 home record compared to going 11-25 on the road. The NBA schedule was reduced to 72 games.
The images of a ballroom in a downtown Tampa hotel being converted to a practice facility will live on as a nightmare.
The NBA did offer a play-in tournament for the 9 and 10 conference seeds to get into the 7 and 8 seed positions. The Raptors didn't do well enough to reach that high in the standings.
Kyle Lowry did not get traded. Norman Powell did get traded to Portland for Gary Trent Jr. and Rodney Hood. Nick Nurse had his challenges in this pandemic-altered season.
Toronto did fairly well with COVID-19 though the Raptors had to postpone home dates with Chicago (February 28) and Detroit (March 2). The downturn in March followed right after the quarantine.
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Toronto last missed the NBA playoffs in 2013. Before 2014, the Raptors had lost 5 of their 6 playoff series. Since 2014, Toronto has won 9 of 15 playoff series, including 4-0 in 2019.
Difficult to watch a team that didn't come close to the playoffs, even expanded playoffs, after doing so well in previous years.
If you want to relive past glory, go back in our NBA coverage to the magical year of 2019. We understand. No judgments.
Toronto Raptors playoffs history
| 2020 | Boston | 3-4 |
| 2020 | Brooklyn | 4-0 |
| 2019 | Golden State | 4-2 |
| 2019 | Milwaukee | 4-2 |
| 2019 | Philadelphia | 4-3 |
| 2019 | Orlando | 4-1 |
| 2018 | Cleveland | 0-4 |
| 2018 | Washington | 4-2 |
| 2017 | Cleveland | 0-4 |
| 2017 | Milwaukee | 4-2 |
| 2016 | Cleveland | 2-4 |
| 2016 | Miami | 4-3 |
| 2016 | Indiana | 4-3 |
| 2015 | Washington | 0-4 |
| 2014 | Brooklyn | 3-4 |
| 2008 | Orlando | 1-4 |
| 2007 | New Jersey | 2-4 |
| 2002 | Detroit | 2-3 |
| 2001 | Philadelphia | 3-4 |
| 2001 | New York | 3-2 |
| 2000 | New York | 0-3 |
photo credit: Google maps
logo credit: Toronto Raptors/NBA
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