Toronto Raptors internal power rankings: Home-stretch heroes
Picking the five best Raptors from March as the NBA playoffs draw near.
Well, it wasn’t a disaster, the month of March for the Toronto Raptors.
After losing four of five on a brutal road trip to start the month, they gamely rebounded by going 6-3 the rest of the way. That leaves them in ninth place in the Eastern Conference — exactly where they were on March 1.
Not the way you would’ve written it up, but it could definitely have been worse.
Now the team is in a tight battle with the Atlanta Hawks for the eighth and far-preferable play-in spot, as a win in the 7-8 game gets you directly into the seventh seed in the actual playoffs, and a loss gives you a do-over versus the winner of the 9-10 game.
Complicating matters, however, is the fact that the Hawks own the tiebreaker. So the Raptors will have to get hot down the stretch and finish with a better record, or else the 9-10 game it is.
We’ll see if that’s doable in the coming days, but for now let’s take a final look back at the month. Here’s our ranking of the five best-performing Raptors from March.
1
Fred VanVleet
March games: 14
Key stats: 20.9 PTS/G, 8.2 AST/G, 2.4
STL/G
A tough call for No. 1 this month, but we’re giving the nod to VanVleet for the huge efficiency improvement over his February numbers.
The Raptors’ starting point guard and on-court leader saw a slight uptick in points per game despite taking nearly 1.5 fewer shots a night thanks to improved percentages from the floor, three-point land, and the foul line.
He ended the month on a mild cold streak, but still shot 42.1 per cent overall — his best monthly mark of the season.
On the other end of the floor, he was an absolute thief. His 2.4 steals per game were easily best in the league, and he nabbed at least two in 12 of his 14 games.
🎯OG Anunoby is locked in right out of the gate!
— NBA Canada (@NBACanada) March 26, 2023
He has 18 pts & 6 reb in the 1st quarter for the @Raptors pic.twitter.com/UnT7j4szpl
2
OG Anunoby
March games: 14
Key stats: 18.8 PTS/G, 3.1 3PM/G, 1.6
STL/G
Did we say picking No. 1 was tough? No. 2 is no picnic either. But Anunoby gets the nod largely for one reason: He is absolutely on fire right now.
In the month of March, Anunoby managed to hit 56.3 per cent of his shots while taking 6.6 threes per game. You know who else in the NBA managed to do that? No one. Because it’s bonkers.
And it wasn’t just his shooting from the field and beyond the arc. Anunoby shot 92.3 per cent from the line, continuing an underrated upward trajectory in free-throw shooting over the course of his career. Remember, he hit roughly 60 per cent of his freebies in his first two years in the league, and this season he’s making 83.8 per cent.
whenever scottie barnes has a breakaway dunk opportunity: pic.twitter.com/13yIIQY7cH
— alex (@steven_lebron) April 1, 2023
3
Scottie Barnes
March games: 12
Key stats: 17.2 PTS/G, 5.9 REB/G, 5.3
AST/G
It was a scary moment mid-month when Barnes left a game versus the Bucks with a wrist injury, and he missed the following two contests as well.
The good news is Barnes came back for the final three games, and put up two of his best performances of the season. In key games versus the Heat and 76ers, Barnes shot a combined 65.7 per cent from the field for 25.5 points, 10.0 assists, 8.0 rebounds, and 3.5 steals per game.
Outside of three-point shooting, the sophomore is already a do-everything player with a penchant for powerful dunks, and when he puts it all together it’s a beautiful thing to watch.
4
Pascal Siakam
March games: 14
Key stats: 19.9 PTS/G, 8.0 REB/G, 5.7
AST/G
It just wasn’t a great month offensively by Siakam’s incredibly high standards.
He shot just 46.0 per cent from the field and 25.9 per cent from three, and he wasn’t able to make up for it by getting to the line. Siakam took just 4.4 free throw attempts per game in the month — down from 6.8 on the year, and way down from the whopping 9.5 he took in his incendiary December run.
What’s worse is the Raptors basically require Siakam’s greatness for wins these days. Siakam shot sub-45 per cent in eight games this past month, and his team won just two of them.
5
Jakob Poeltl
March games: 14
Key stats: 9.9 REB/G, 1.1 BLK/G, 63.4
FG%
Simply one of the most consistent players in the league, and exactly what the Raptors wanted when they traded for him at the deadline.
Poeltl led the team in rebounds, blocks, and field-goal percentage, and chipped in with 14.1 points per game. He also extended tons of possessions with 3.4 offensive boards a night, a key to Raptors victories these days considering how rarely they hit a higher percentage of looks than their opponents.
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