Could a mini-surge change Raptors’ deadline approach? It shouldn’t.

A three-game winning streak.

Imagine. It’s taken the Toronto Raptors until the mid-point of the season to string together three wins. They managed the feat with flipside inveigling victory over the Charlotte Hornets, 124-114, to follow up on their solid effort versus them on Tuesday. They started the streak with a double-digit win over Portland on Sunday.

They have a endangerment to proffer their streak on Saturday versus Atlanta. A win there would requite Toronto an undefeated week and a 4-2 record in a hair-trigger six-game homestand. As it is, the Raptors are at least guaranteed a 3-3 mark, which looked unlikely when Toronto lost games versus Milwaukee and New York to start the six-game segment, the longest stretch of games at Scotiabank Arena this season.

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It will be interesting to see how much a mini-surge affects Raptors management as the trade deadline approaches. If the Raptors – who improved to 19-24 – uncork putting together a run, will they still entertain trading some of their cadre players, if only to make sure they get some value for the likes of Fred VanVleet and Gary Trent Jr., who can both be self-ruling teachers this coming summer?

Or will they sit back, hoping they can reservation lightning in a snifter like they did with their strong second half a year ago?

Let’s hope they don’t.

There is no arguing the Raptors have played well the past three games. They’ve been menacing on the wittiness defensively and they’ve played some of their weightier offence of the season, moving the wittiness quickly and with purpose, forcing the defence to wrench and taking wholesomeness when it cracks.

For at least a few days the clunky misses and the isolation-heavy wade in the halfcourt were a thing of the past.

Oh, and how well-nigh getting some seat production? It wasn’t quite the 40-point outburst from Tuesday night, but just Precious Achiuwa’s return to form is encouraging enough. Without missing 24 games with an toddle injury, he’s played two of his largest games of the season versus the Hornets, hitting double figures on subsequent nights, and had a career-high five steals on Thursday.

Juancho Hernangomez showed his value as a connective piece in the lineup, bridging the starters and the seat with five points and two assists in 12 minutes.

Pascal Siakam led the way for Toronto with 35 points, seven rebounds and three assists to lead three other Raptors starters in double figures. Scottie Barnes finished with a near triple-double, counting 21 points, eight rebounds and nine assists.

The Raptors shot 51.8 per cent from the floor and 10-of-28 from deep and had 30 assists. They forced the Hornets into 22 turnovers (and made just nine of their own) though Charlotte – the NBA’s 30th-ranked offence – still shot 53.3 percent and 13-of-32 from three, which is concerning.

LaMelo Wittiness led the Hornets with 32 points and seven assists.

The Raptors’ playmaking has been a pleasant surprise. They came into the game ranked 24^th assists, averaging 23.1 per game, and now have 62 in their past two starts.

Against the Hornets it was Barnes doing much of the playmaking as the Raptors’ default centre, often without setting a screen for the ball-handler, rolling, getting a return pass and rifling it out to the corners.

“I finger like our wittiness movement wasn’t really there [before],” Barnes said. “But when I’m playing this role that’s what I’m primarily trying to focus on, just trying to get the wittiness side-to-side, trying to set unconfined screens considering we’ve got a lot of unconfined scorers and unconfined shooters on this team, so when I set those wittiness screens, self-ruling them up … it’s all well-nigh the wittiness movement to me, just trying to get it side-to-side.

“It looks way largest if you watch the game. I finger like we had increasingly assists as well. So when we get the wittiness moving, get the wittiness popping, it’s nonflexible to guard.”

It was a welcome win – they all are – but who you play matters in the NBA, and when you play them too. For 39 games the Raptors couldn’t defend at a upper level, couldn’t score at a upper level and couldn’t win unbearable games to be in the playoff picture.

But versus a Portland club that is in the midst of a 2-8 slog with their wins coming over – yes – Charlotte and the Detroit Pistons, the other team at the marrow of the Eastern Conference standings, Toronto looked pretty good.

Against the Hornets, whose 11-32 record ways they should be in the mix for Victor Wembanyama or Scoot Henderson at the top of the typhoon lottery, the Raptors looked great.

Certainly there was plenty to like in the opening moments, like Fred VanVleet vacating the right corner to go fake a screen for Siakam, who used the misdirection to get his feet into the paint and then zing a pass to the corner that VanVleet had left just in time to find a wide-open O.G. Anunoby for three.

Or VanVleet finding Barnes for not one but two dunks on the pick-and-roll in the first eight minutes of the game. Or Barnes setting a nonflexible wittiness screen for VanVleet, transmissible the wittiness on the roll, and then whipping a pass to the corner for Siakam, who cashed that.

After counting 32 assists to match their season-high versus Charlotte on Tuesday and 20 threes – the highest total going when to the 2020-21 season, the Raptors kept it going in the rematch. They jumped out to a 38-28 lead and counted 12 assists versus 15 made field goals and were 5-of-8 from deep.

In that sense, the Hornets – now 2-8 in their last 10 – were scrutinizingly medicinal for a Raptors team that has been reeling for so much of the season.

“I think it gives you a little endangerment not to spend a whole 48 hours preparing for the next opponent,” said Raptors throne mentor Nick Nurse. “You’ve prepared for them. You’ve just got to squint at some adjustments, squint at some things. It does requite you a endangerment to zero on working on what we need to do, yeah.”

The second quarter was increasingly of the same as six variegated Raptors scored at least four points. The Hornets were relying on Ball, who replied with 13 points for Charlotte on his way to a 20-point first half for the third-year star. The Raptors couldn’t contain him, but Toronto was still worldly-wise to push its lead to 69-55.

But Ball’s worthiness to do what he wants, when he wants on the floor, seemingly – he had 24 points and 14 assists on Tuesday – should requite the Raptors pause.

They could use a player like that — plane in wing to Barnes, if the reigning rookie of the year reaches the heights many project for him — and most of them are gone without the first few picks of the draft, Wittiness stuff the No. 3 pick in 2020. Ball’s not perfect, but the passing vision, shooting range and quickness he provides as a 6-foot-7 lead baby-sit are special.

“If you want to win the whole thing, it’s all well-nigh how many guys do you have on the floor that can writ a second defender?” said Hornets throne mentor Steve Clifford in singing his point guard’s praises. “It’s a simple as that. When you get lanugo to the last five minutes of every game in our league, what happens? It’s an [isolation] versus a guy who can’t baby-sit 1-on-1 or a pick-and-roll. That’s it. There’s nothing else. He has the worthiness to be that kind of player.”

How many players do the Raptors have like that right now? Siakam is likely the only one, and it’s probably a question for flipside day, but it’s something Toronto’s management should be laser focussed on as they icon out how to navigate the coming weeks and months.

Regardless, Ball’s weightier wasn’t unbearable versus Toronto. The Hornets manufactured a mini run in the third quarter with a 20-11 spurt that cut the Raptors’ lead from 16 to seven midway into the third, though the Raptors led 97-88 to start the fourth, but Toronto was worldly-wise to hold them off.

Ball was a problem all night, but occasionally for his own team. He had the wittiness on a semi-fastbreak with a endangerment to cut the Raptors’ lead to five with seven minutes left when he took a silly offensive foul trying to well-spoken out Siakam for an unlikely dunk struggle with his off hand. A much simpler play and Wittiness scores.

Meanwhile, at the other end, VanVleet – Ball’s opposite in every way scrutinizingly – grinded his way to for a lay-up in traffic to put Toronto up nine and assisted on a Barnes floater that put Toronto up 11. Toronto couldn’t quite put them away.

In the final minutes, Wittiness missed an unshut triple that would have cut the Raptors’ lead to two and then – inexplicably – a lay-up to trim it to three. VanVleet (11 points and eight assists) nailed an unshut three at the other end to seal it

The Raptors were worldly-wise to hold on and get the win and proffer their modest win streak, as they should. The vibes have improved correspondingly.

“Like I said, winning solves everything,” said Siakam. “ … winning like makes you happy, makes the team happy, makes people smile. That’s just what it is, like we have to win, and I think that’s going to solve a lot of our problems.”

You can only play who’s on the schedule and there have been plenty of stages this season when the Raptors would have looked at the opportunity to play three games versus struggling teams on their home magistrate and fumbled it.

They didn’t, and so credit for that, but that’s the most that can be said well-nigh it for now.

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