Raptors own NBA's best record against league's top teams

The Toronto Raptors are in the midst of a dogfight for an NBA playoff berth, but one portion of their record shows they could be a tough out come postseason time.

StatMuse shared this stat on Wednesday, via Raptors fan stuarticulacion: the Raptors actually hold the NBA’s best mark against the top three teams from each conference, going 10-5 in those games.

Record vs top 3 teams from each conference:

1. Raptors (10-5)
2. Celtics (9-5)
3. Timberwolves (9-7)
4. Bucks (6-5)
5. Nuggets (8-7)
—————
26. Kings (2-12)
27. Pistons (2-13)
28. Magic (1-15)
29. Rockets (1-16)
30. Bulls (0-16)

(Submitted by @stuarticulacion) pic.twitter.com/dphEJRzPKI

— StatMuse (@statmuse) March 23, 2022

It’s a remarkable stat for a Raptors team coming off a 27-45 mark last season while playing the entirety of their home schedule in Tampa, Florida.

“We go out there and look these really good teams eye-to-eye and go compete and believe we can win and execute to win,” Raptors head coach Nick Nurse told reporters Sunday of the team’s record against top opponents.

At this point in the season, the Raptors have taken on all 29 other teams. They’ve picked up wins against 25 of them, while going 0-10 against Dallas (0-2), Portland (0-2), Cleveland (0-3), and Detroit (0-3).

While they’ve finished off their schedule against three of those teams, Toronto has a chance to close out their season series against Cleveland with a win on Thursday night. Toronto is set to host the Cavaliers at 7:30 pm tomorrow, while sitting one game behind their opponent in the NBA standings.

With Cleveland occupying the vaunted sixth seed that allows teams to avoid the NBA’s play-in round, the stage is set for one of the Raptors’ most pivotal games of the year.

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