Raptors wrap up record-setting January with loss to the Hawks

TORONTO, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) — The Toronto Raptors concluded their busiest month in franchise history with a 77-100 defeat to the Atlanta Hawks in NBA action on Tuesday night.

The game marked the conclusion of a month in which the team played a franchise-high 19 games. The previous mark of 18 games occurred during the month of April in the 1998-98 season.

Under this year’s 66-game condensed NBA schedule, each of the 30 teams played between 15 and 19 games during January. Joining the Raptors with 19 games are the Charlotte Bobcats, Chicago Bulls and Detroit Pistons.

During the 19-game span, the Raptors played four back-to-backs and one back-to-back-to-back. All in all, the team finished with a 6-13 overall record, going 4-8 record on the road and a 2-5 record at home.

The hectic January sets up a more slow-paced schedule for the remainder of the season for the 7-15 Raptors. The team will play 13 games in February, 17 games in March and 14 games in April with 25 of the 44 games at home.

When asked by Xinhua during the postgame press conference to reflect on the team’s performance of the first full month of the season, Raptors head coach Dwane Casey thought that “one night we come out like gangbusters, the next night; we look like we’ve never seen each other before.”

“This is a tough year for a young team, in terms of practise time to spend working…our guys for the most part have given every ounce of their effort as far as working hard…from a growth standpoint, we’re a long way from where we need to be,” said Casey.

Next up for the Raptors is a date with their Atlantic division rivals, the Boston Celtics tomorrow night before returning home to host the Washington Wizards on Friday.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/sports/2012-02/01/c_131386279.htm