The Raptors are eleven games over the .500 mark. This has not happened in nearly four years, not since March of 2022 when they beat the Celtics. Back then, things felt different, though I cannot quite remember how.
I recall that 2022 team won eight of their last ten games. They peaked at fifteen games over .500 before they lost the final game of the season. It is a strange thing to track, mathematical progress, especially when the end of the road is always the same.
The Chain and the Sketches
People are asking for the defensive chain again. It is a heavy object they put around someone's neck to show they played good defense. My uncle used to have a similar chain for his boat, but he never got an award for it.
There is also a person drawing a sketch after every single game. We are fifty seven games into the season. That is a lot of lead and paper spent on professional basketball players. I hope they have a good sharpener, because the season is long and the graphite is thin.
Hotels and Departures
Someone on the internet is asking where the Oklahoma City Thunder stay when they visit Toronto. I assume they stay in a hotel with beds and perhaps those small bottles of shampoo that are difficult to open. It is best to leave them alone, as they are likely tired from the flight and the general burden of being tall.
We never did get a proper farewell for Nick Nurse or Masai Ujiri in this timeline. It was just a quiet exit, like when you leave a party without telling the host because you cannot find your shoes. It felt awkward, but most things in life are awkward if you look at them for more than three seconds.
The Loneliness of the Win Column
Being eleven games over .500 is a statistical comfort. It means if we lost ten games in a row, we would still be slightly better than average. It is like having an extra sandwich in the fridge that you forgot about.
I don't know if this team is better than the 2022 team. They both run up and down the court. They both wear sneakers. We just watch and wait for the next sketch to be posted, hoping the ink doesn't run out before April arrives.