Raptors Have Not Yet Defeated a Team With a Winning Record
By Peter D. WalkerWhile the Raptors' overall record of 10W-9L is better than last year, I can't imagine that Bryan Colangelo is a happy man. I'm sure he was like me and anticipated a record in the range of say 12W-7L at this juncture.
The team has fought through early injuries to Bosh, Bargnani, Ford and Garbajosa and managed to remain above .500. Yet, their relatively easy schedule may have been more of a contributing factor than anything else. So far they have faced 12 sub .500 teams and only 7 which are .500 or better.
After 19 games, the Raptors have yet to defeat a single team with a winning record. They have lost all six games against winning teams and one against the Wizards who sit exactly at .500.
| Raptors Wins - 10 | Raptors Losses - 9 | |
| Record vs. Sub .500 Teams | 10 Wins | 2 Losses |
| Record vs. Teams .500 or Over | 0 Wins | 7 Losses |
| Combined Record of Opponents | 65 W - 114 L | 107 W - 60 L |
| Winning Percentage of Opponents | .365 | .641 |
The teams the Raps defeated have a miserable winning percentage of only .365 to this point in the season. The combined record of opponents takes into account the team twice enjoying victories over Philadelphia, Chicago and Memphis.
Raptors face a tough stretch starting in Boston
The Toronto Raptors upcoming schedule has 3 out of 4 games against teams with winning records - Boston, Houston and Dallas. If these games play out acorrding to the trend, we can expect a mid-December record of only 11-12.
Interestingly enough, the Raptors don't seem to be affected by Home as opposed to Road games. Instead their likelihood of winning or losing seems more predicated on the quality of opponent and is not affected so much by venue.
The Raptors are 6W-5L at the Air Canada Centre and an even 4W-4L on the road.
It is still relatively early in the season, but after the 20 game mark with every team there are some trends that become evident. After the Celtics game, the Raptors will have played 20 games and I'm not sure things are unfolding as expected.
Granted, injuries have been a factor - but Colangelo has to hope the team gets healthy soon and starts to reel off a string of much-needed W's.
Our November schedule was very easy and we should've done a lot better than .500 for the month. I know it's early but a win is a win whether it's in November or March. If the Raps miss the playoffs or get stuck with a bad seeding, look no further than November. The Jazz, Celtics, Warriors and Magic home games were all there to be had and so was the Cleveland away one. Some bad coaching and unpreparedness cost us a lot of Ws.
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