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Toronto Maple Leafs' William Nylander (88) reacts as the Los Angeles Kings celebrate their overtime win in NHL hockey in Toronto on Thursday, November 13, 2025.
The Raptors are everything the Maple Leafs are not.
They are winning. They are playing and pushing themselves. They are playing defence. They are playing together. They are learning and improving as a group.
They have won seven of their past eight games and are tied for third in the Eastern Conference of the NBA.
The Leafs have lost five games in a row and are tied for last place in the Eastern Conference of the NHL.
And yes, it’s early – isn’t that what the losers and the winners say in sports, it’s always early. But what seems more than apparent midway through November is that there is every reason to believe in this Raptors team and almost no reason to believe in the Leafs.
The Raptors barely beat the Charlotte Hornets 110-108 Monday night at Scotiabank Arena and needed two giant defensive plays from their two best players, Scottie Barnes and Brandon Ingram, to take home the victory.
Barnes and Ingram led offensively, led defensively, blocking five shots in all, including the last-second block at the basket that Barnes made on Collin Sexton that allowed Toronto to avoid overtime.
“We love the guy, we love his game,” said coach Darko Rajakovic, the Raptors coach, talking about Ingram after the win. Before the win, he said basically the same thing about Barnes. There’s a whole lot of unexpected love going on around here.
“We’re learning how to win, how to win close games, all the stuff we talk about,” said the coach
Earlier in the afternoon, coach Craig Berube didn’t talk much about love. He was dropping rather loud F-bombs on the ice for what seemed to be what’s left of his Maple Leafs roster right now. Captain Auston Matthews, who wasn’t having the greatest season when healthy, is injured with something undisclosed and hasn’t been on the ice since he was hurt. Just when he’ll return is anyone’s guess. Chris Tanev has been nowhere to be found since he went on the league’s injured list. Brandon Carlo and Nicolas Roy are out now – and for how long nobody knows. And goaltender Anthony Stolarz is on the injured list and leaving the Leafs rather unprotected in the most important area
It’s November and the Leafs are running out of both time and players, which is never a good thing.
The Raptors got the late block from Barnes Monday night, who has elevated his play to near all-star level and just before that, a block from Ingram, who led all scorers with 27 points, and looks on his way to truly coming back from years of being unable to play.
Ingram made one of those drives you rarely see around here or anywhere else. He faked left, moved right, switched hands and electrically wound up slam dunking against the Hornets with 6:43 left to play in a game that seemed too close for comfort.
Toronto Raptors forward/center Sandro Mamukelashvili (54) rejects the shot from Charlotte Hornets guard Lamelo Ball (1) as Raptors forward/guard Scottie Barnes (4) looks on during first half NBA basketball action in Toronto on Monday, November 17, 2025. Photo by Nathan Denette /THE CANADIAN PRESS
The dunk was so spectacular – almost Vince Carter-like, for those old enough to remember – that it brought the entire Raptors bench to their feet, laughing, clapping and cackling.
“That was amazing,” said Collin Murray-Boyles, the Raptors rookie who leapt to his feet on Ingram’s dunk. “That’s the type of play that makes the NBA fun, so much fun. You never see anything like that. That’s the kind of NBA play that you won’t see in any other sport.”
The Maple Leafs could learn more than a few things from the Raptors right now – but more than anything else, they could probably learn more from the NBA as a whole.
This is yet another tank season in the NBA. Seven teams are playing less than .300 basketball right now. Almost a quarter of the league isn’t trying to win a whole lot with the upcoming draft being a very strong one.
The Raptors are not among those thinking tank.
And who knows when Matthews will return for the Leafs. Same for Stolarz, the goalie and same for Tanev, the most indispensable defenceman Toronto has. If the Leafs want to study the tank jobs out there, the best evidence is the San Antonio Spurs. Twice, they gave up on seasons and twice they wound up with franchise-changing players, Tim Duncan and Victor Wembanyama.
There are two years left on the Matthews contract with the Leafs. There are two years left on John Tavares’ contract. The Leafs have made the playoffs nine years in a row. They are, as of Tuesday morning, tied with the Buffalo Sabres for 15th in the East. They’ve never been anywhere near here since the Leafs tanked for Matthews.
They are tied by the way with the Sabres, who have missed the playoffs 14 seasons in a row.
The Leafs’ first pick, owned elsewhere, is lottery-protected. If the Leafs bottom out like a bad penny, they can get a decent pick come June. If they don’t, they don’t get to use their own pick and won’t improve a roster in desperate need now of improvement.
Meanwhile, the Raptors are 9-5. Nine and frickin’ five. They haven’t been 9-5 in eight years, so long ago that Barnes was in Grade 10.
This is Barnes’ fifth season in the NBA. This is the first season he truly looks the part of a growing all-star. “He’s constantly finding ways to improve,” said coach Rajakovic.
“He always comes with a new approach, new energy, new experiences, new solutions and he continues to get better every single day.”
Which is something that used to be said about Auston Matthews, now in his 10th season, a season seemingly going nowhere.