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The Raptors showed good signs late last week and will need to build on them.
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Published Mar 09, 2026 • 4 minute read
Gradey Dick of the Toronto Raptors drives to the net against Caleb Martin of the Dallas Mavericks during Sunday's game.
Gradey Dick of the Toronto Raptors drives to the net against Caleb Martin of the Dallas Mavericks during Sunday's game. Getty Images
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We’ve been accused at times of being a bit too negative on all things Toronto Raptors, so here’s a dose of early week positivity.
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After winning a 122-92 laugher over Dallas on Sunday, which snapped a run of four losses in a row at home and four losses in five games overall, the Raptors maintained a one-game lead over red-hot Florida teams Orlando and Miami.
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They’re also two games ahead of Nick Nurse’s Philadelphia 76ers, though Philadelphia plays an absurd five games this week, including Monday night at Cleveland.
So, what positives can we find?
Miami only has 17 games left compared to 19 for Toronto, Orlando and Philadelphia, and Toronto’s remaining strength of schedule is 18th in the NBA, while Miami’s is 16th, Orlando’s 14th-hardest (Philadelphia has the 19th-hardest remaining strength of schedule, percentage points ahead of Toronto).
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Toronto has a lot of absolute dogs remaining on the schedule and, at some point they will pull out a win or two against physical conference behemoths Detroit and New York, right?
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And what if the RJ Barrett we’ve seen recently is the Barrett they get the rest of the way? Barrett had his first game with at least 30 points since last March on Sunday and has averaged 19.6 points on 53% shooting, including 42.4% on three-point attempts over his past seven games.
Barrett also was praised by head coach Darko Rajakovic for stepping it up defensively as well.
“Definitely, his offence is helping the team, but to be honest with you, what he’s doing really well lately, is he’s playing really good defence,” Rajakovic said.
“And that’s always the thing that then starts with him and starts with us and that he has to do a good job there. When he does that, I really believe that when he plays with a lot of attention and effort on the defensive (end), I really think that helps his offence as well. I think he has even more force and energy and focus and he did a really, really good job today, scoring, but also play-making.”
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Barrett credited both finding his legs after his injury layoff and the return of another formerly hurt Raptor, Jakob Poeltl, for his recent boost.
We’ve mentioned here before how much Poeltl’s presence opens things up for Immanuel Quickley, but it’s less obvious how much he complements Barrett.
“Jak was responsible for, like,10 of my points,” Barrett said.
“He sets the great screens, bigs have got to worry about him, even the guards, corner man tagging in. His screening-and-rolling really sets a lot of things up, especially for me when I’m coming off screens like that, cutting, passing, he’s getting rebounds, blocking shots, doing everything. Man, it’s a great thing to have Jak back.”
Add that to the positives for sure. Poeltl is an immense help on the boards, is the best screen-setter on the team and a good safety valve inside for some easy offence while guarding the rim well.
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What are some more what-ifs?
What if Gradey Dick gains a spark from his early March benching?
Dick, now in his third season, had been in the midst of a brutal campaign of regression when Rajakovic decided to take him out of the rotation for several games, sometimes in favour of sharp-shooter Jamison Battle.
Dick didn’t pout though and built on four active minutes against Minnesota on Thursday to do a little bit of everything in 13 minutes against Dallas.
Surprisingly called on third off the bench — and early in the game at that — Dick was everywhere in his first few minutes.
There was good — two nice layups, an assist and a layup — and some not so good — three nearly immediate fouls, one play where he got lost and let an opponent get an easy score — plus more encouraging moments.
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With Dick’s three-point shot abandoning him, he has to find other ways to impact the game and at least for one night, he did just that. Dick seems pretty automatic on mid-range two-pointers, maybe it’s worth swapping some three-point looks for more of those.
Rajakovic said Dick responded to his benching by getting to the gym even earlier and staying even later recently.
“That’s what he needs to continue doing. That should not change because he’s in rotation now. There’s a high expectation that he needs to put a lot of work in, because he’s very, very important player for us,” Rajakovic said. “I have huge trust in him, and as a young player, I just think that he’s going to continue developing, and he’s doing all the right things right now.”
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Read More
[Raptors' RJ Barrett (9) dunks on Dallas Mavericks' Marvin Bagley III on Sunday, March 8, 2026 at Scotiabank Arena.
RJ Barrett's best game sparks Raptors to easy win over Cooper Flagg and Mavericks](https://torontosun.com/sports/basketball/nba/toronto-raptors/rj-barretts-best-game-sparks-raptors-to-easy-win-over-cooper-flagg-and-mavericks)
2. [Georgia Tech head coach Damon Stoudamire argues a call with a referee last month.
Former Toronto Raptors star fired from NCAA coaching job at Georgia Tech](https://torontosun.com/sports/basketball/nba/toronto-raptors/damon-stoudamire-fired-ncaa-coaching-job-georgia-tech)
Toronto badly needs more from its bench. Ja’Kobe Walter has shown flashes, but mostly on defence, Jamal Shead has been quiet in recent weeks and Sandro Mamukelashvili has cooled a bit.
Collin Murray-Boyles could return later this week (he is not expected to play in Houston on Tuesday or at New Orleans on Wednesday as the team is giving him time to heal up his nagging thumb injury) which will help, but Dick has a chance to stick in the rotation if he can produce.
Finally, what if the Scottie Barnes we saw the past three games keeps showing up? Barnes had been on a disastrous run from three-point range for about more than two months, but hit 1-of-3 against New York, then 2-of-3 against Minnesota and 2-of-4 against Dallas.
Barnes hasn’t scored 20 points in nine games, which is concerning, but the Raptors will probably take a bit less overall offence if Barnes can hit north of 30% of his three-pointers the rest of the way.
@WolstatSun
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