2014–15 Toronto Raptors season explained

Team:	Toronto Raptors
Divisionwin:	yes
End Year:	2015
Wins:	49
Losses:	33
Division:	Atlantic
Division Place:	1
Conf Place:	4
Coach:	Dwane Casey
Owners:	Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment
Arena:	Air Canada Centre
Playoffs:	First Round (lost to Wizards 0–4)
Bbr Team:	TOR

The 2014–15 Toronto Raptors season was the 20th season of the franchise in the National Basketball Association (NBA).^[1] In honor of the Raptors 20th season, they revealed the throwback purple "dino" jerseys to wear on several nights. The Raptors repeated as Atlantic Division champions for the first time in franchise history, and finished in fourth place in Eastern conference, winning 49 games during the regular season, breaking their franchise record of 48 wins in the previous season. Despite this achievement, the fourth-seeded Raptors were unexpectedly swept in the opening round of the playoffs by the fifth-seeded Washington Wizards as they extended their post-season series victory drought. Their all-time playoff series record dipped to one and seven, now having lost their last six consecutive series, and their lone series win coming in 2001 against the Knicks. This year's defeat was primarily blamed on the team's poor defense which was notably exploited by the Wizards.

Draft picks

See main article: 2014 NBA draft.

Round	Pick	Player	Position	College/Club Team
1	20	Bruno Caboclo	SF	E.C. Pinheiros (Brazil)
2	37	DeAndre Daniels	SF	Connecticut
2	59	Xavier Thames	SG	San Diego State

Regular season

The Raptors took advantage of a favourable early schedule to reach the top spot in the Eastern Conference for the first time in franchise history as well as having the best start in franchise history with a 9–2 record. They briefly fell back to second after a loss to the Chicago Bulls, but regained the number one position one game later, which was followed by six-game winning streak. The Raptors remained as Eastern Conference leaders, but on November 28, 2014, the Raptors not only lost their position as NBA-leaders in a 106–102 loss to the Dallas Mavericks that dropped them to a 13–3 record but also faced a major setback when All-Star DeMar DeRozan tore his left adductor longus tendon in the third quarter of the game. This was followed by another loss to the Los Angeles Lakers in overtime two nights later when Kobe Bryant recorded his first triple double of the season defeating the Raptors 129–122. The Raptors also fell to the Cleveland Cavaliers in back-to-back games before entering a six-game winning streak without DeRozan. However, things began to fall apart after a six-game road trip during the winter holidays where they lost 4 of those 6 games as poor defense led to a 2–8 record in their first ten games in January. The downfall dropped the team from first place to the Atlanta Hawks and found themselves battling for second with the Washington Wizards as DeRozan returned to the lineup on January 14. On January 22, Kyle Lowry was named as a starter for the 2015 NBA All-Star Game after a last-minute voting rally by fans with help by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and celebrity Justin Bieber (who tweeted his support on Twitter but failed to include '#NBAballot' in his tweet) helped Lowry overtake Dwyane Wade who was second in the backcourt votes. This makes him the third Raptor to start in the all-star game after Chris Bosh and Vince Carter. The Raptors ended the month of January on a positive note with a six-game winning streak which included back-to-back overtime victories to the Brooklyn Nets and Washington Wizards however, struggled in February as the Raptors went 4–7. The rest of the season represented a decline for the Raptors as they won just 13 of 29 games after the all-star break and all-star point guard Lowry averaged 15.3 PPG while struggling with back spasms in the latter part of the season. Despite the lows, the Raptors finished once again as Atlantic Division Champions finishing with a franchise-high 49 wins while clinching the fourth seed.

Standings

The Raptors faced off against the Wizards in the opening round of the playoffs where they once again faced Paul Pierce who faced the Raptors in the previous year with the Brooklyn Nets where he blocked a potential game-winning shot by Lowry. Much of the anticipation for the playoffs were created by Pierce who stated that the Raptors 'did not have it' which disgruntled many Raptor fans.

Record vs opponents

Eastern Conference					Western Conference
Atlantic Division					Northwest Division
Team	Home		Away		Team	Home	Away
width=170		width=90		width=90		width=90		width=90	width=170	width=90	width=90
Boston	109–96	116–117*	110–107	93–95	Denver	112–107*	116–102
Brooklyn	105–89	93–109	127–122*	109–114	Minnesota	105–100	113–99
New York	118–108	106–89	95–90*	98–103	Oklahoma City	100–88	104–108
Philadelphia	120–88	100–84	91–86	114–103	Portland	97–113	97–102*
					Utah	111–93	123–104
	6–2		5–3			4–1	3–2
Division	11–5				Division	7–3
Central Division					Pacific Division
Team	Home		Away		Team	Home	Away
Chicago	93–100	103–116	120–129	92–108	Golden State	89–113	105–126
Cleveland	91–105	112–120	110–93	101–105	L.A. Clippers	123–107	110–98
Detroit	111–114	114–110	110–100	104–108	L.A. Lakers	94–83	122–129*
Indiana	106–94		104–91	117–98	Phoenix	104–100	109–125
Milwaukee	124–82	75–82	92–89		Sacramento	119–102	117–109
	3–6		5–4			4–1	2–3
Division	8–10				Division	6–4
Southeast Division					Southwest Division
Team	Home		Away		Team	Home	Away
Atlanta	109–102	89–110	126–115	105–80	Dallas	102–106	92–99
Charlotte	95–103	92–87	94–103	92–74	Houston	99–96	76–98
Miami	102–92		102–107	107–104	Memphis	96–92	86–92
Orlando	104–100	95–82	108–95	101–99	New Orleans	93–95	97–100
Washington	103–84	95–93	120–116*		San Antonio	87–82	107–117
	7–2		7–2			3–2	0–5
Division	14–4				Division	3–7
Conference	33–19 (home: 16–10; Away: 17–9)				Conference	16–14 (home: 11–4; Away: 5–10)
Overall	49–33 (home: 27–14; Away: 22–19)

(* game decided in overtime)

Game log

Preseason

Regular season

Playoffs

Game log

Player statistics

Ragular season


SF	82	61	2,092	226	86	53	25	807	25.5	2.8	1.0	.6	.3	9.8
PG	82	29	1,991	216	302	46	10	775	24.3	2.6	3.7	.6	.1	9.5
PF	81	4	2,156	433	155	60	44	648	26.6	5.3	1.9	.7	.5	8.0
C	80	80	2,096	693	39	33	95	963	26.2	8.7	.5	.4	1.2	12.0
SG	80	0	2,016	151	164	88	10	1,242	25.2	1.9	2.1	1.1	.1	15.5
PF	75	72	1,979	456	117	44	59	694	26.4	6.1	1.6	.6	.8	9.3
PF	74	8	1,058	265	21	30	15	270	14.3	3.6	.3	.4	.2	3.6
PG	70	70	2,414	328	473	109	13	1,244	34.5	4.7	6.8	1.6	.2	17.8
PF	70	17	1,370	257	95	54	70	554	19.6	3.7	1.4	.8	1.0	7.9
SG	60	60	2,100	277	210	73	11	1,204	35.0	4.6	3.5	1.2	.2	20.1
C	29	0	255	51	20	10	4	50	8.8	1.8	.7	.3	.1	1.7
SF	26	9	216	26	15	11	0	46	8.3	1.0	.6	.4	.0	1.8
C	17	0	66	15	3	2	0	14	3.9	.9	.2	.1	.0	.8
SF	8	0	23	2	0	0	1	10	2.9	.3	.0	.0	.1	1.3
C	6	0	23	11	1	2	0	6	3.8	1.8	.2	.3	.0	1.0

Playoffs


SG	4	4	159	25	23	6	0	81	39.8	6.3	5.8	1.5	.0	20.3
PG	4	4	131	22	19	5	0	49	32.8	5.5	4.8	1.3	.0	12.3
SF	4	4	107	6	4	3	4	28	26.8	1.5	1.0	.8	1.0	7.0
C	4	4	106	37	2	2	1	45	26.5	9.3	.5	.5	.3	11.3
PF	4	2	112	28	4	1	3	46	28.0	7.0	1.0	.3	.8	11.5
PF	4	2	48	6	3	2	1	5	12.0	1.5	.8	.5	.3	1.3
PF	4	0	106	14	5	3	0	41	26.5	3.5	1.3	.8	.0	10.3
SG	4	0	102	7	5	6	0	51	25.5	1.8	1.3	1.5	.0	12.8
PG	4	0	101	7	12	2	0	30	25.3	1.8	3.0	.5	.0	7.5
PF	2	0	12	2	1	0	0	4	6.0	1.0	.5	.0	.0	2.0
C	1	0	2	0	0	0	0	5	2.0	.0	.0	.0	.0	5.0

Injuries

Start	End<	--		Injury type	Games missed
Kyle Lowry="2" style="" width="10%"	Player	Duration		Injury type	Games missed
	Month Day, Year	Month Day, Year	Injury	Games Missed -->
	November 28, 2014	January 14, 2015	Torn left adductor longus tendon	21 games

Transactions

See main article: List of 2014–15 NBA season transactions.

Trades

Free agents

Re-signed

Player	Signed	Contract	Ref.

Additions

Player	Signed	Former team	Ref.

Subtractions

Player	Reason left	Date	New team	Ref.

Awards

Player	Award	Date awarded	Ref.

External links

Notes and References

Web site: Koreen. Eric. Toronto Raptors unveil 20th anniversary logo: No Drake but plenty of purple. https://archive.today/20140529023124/http://sports.nationalpost.com/2014/03/04/toronto-raptors-unveil-20th-anniversary-logo-no-drake-but-plenty-of-purple/. dead. May 29, 2014. National Post. May 29, 2014.