Take away the start.

But that they could.

As the 15-26 Toronto Raptors contemplate the second half of their season, a little perspective is in order.

Since opening the season 4-19, the Toronto Raptors have gone 11-7 and it, should be even better than that.

The Raptors blew leads of 19 an 20 points in losses to Philadelphia and Milwaukee, respectively, last week. They have lost 10 games in which they led by 10 or more points.

Quincy Acy has emerged as a contributor for the Raptors as they hit the halfway point of ...

This guy knew something about something very applicable to basketball.

Dwane Casey doesn’t quote Rudyard Kipling so I will.

The great poet wrote that happiness awaits the person “who can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two impostors just the same.”

Which brings us nicely to your Toronto Raptors, who went on 9-1 tear before desultory games against Sacramento and Oklahoma City and then Wednesday’s win over Philly.

If the Raptors are to climb back into the playoff picture, they will need plenty of wins. The hitch: young teams that put ...

What do you get when you combine Landry Fields and Alan Anderson?

Besides good results?

Landerson.

While there are abundant reasons for the Raptors’ eight wins in nine tries (the rapid progress of Terrence Ross and Ed Davis, the superb play of Jose Calderon, the return of Kyle Lowry), the team has thrived without Andrea Bargnani in large part because of the play of Fields and Anderson at the power forward spot.

“They’re similar in that both are tough guys, their energy is contagious,” said coach Dwane Casey. “Both of them have been around ...

The emergence of Terrence Ross and the continued maturation of Ed Davis are essentials if the Raptors are to play meaningful late-season games.

This is poison in a basketball column.

Naturally, I am going to do it anyway.

Would you, as a fellow from that other sport once posited, want to make the playoffs only to risk being manhandled by another team?

Hell, yes.

I think the Raptors can make the playoffs.

I say this in the wake of the iceberg, the 4-19 start.

Logic, of course, dictates that the majority of teams that begin by ...

Alan Anderson has been a find for the Raptors. (Ron Turenne/NBAE)

Raptors by the numbers: It’s not so bad.

Inconceivable.

Despite a 4-19 start, the playoffs are by no means out of reach for the Toronto Raptors.

First the good news: The Philadelphia 76ers have four more wins, Boston, Brooklyn and Friday’s ACC opponent — the Orlando Magic — are all within reach of a particularly fruitful two weeks.   The Raptors own more victories than Charlotte, Detroit, Cleveland, Washington and New Orleans.

Now the bad: it looks like a .500 record will earn ...

I grew up in Sarnia so long ago the Mayans hadn’t yet invented a calendar predicting the end of the world…any world.

Eccentrics enjoyed  a certain celebrity in southwestern Ontario towns. Television was considered a gateway to the starry network of four stations.  Detroit passed for our Emerald City.

Kids were more active then; not because of some inherent ambition or nobility but because our entertainment options were so limited you needed to get out of the house.

Around the corner beckoned The Rendezvous Grill, a hamburger joint with a jukebox and a ...

It’s not hard to pin down the dominant story line of the Raptors season. A 4-15 record pretty well drowns everything else out. But amidst the flurry of agonizingly close losses you will find a one memorable performance after another from guard Kyle Lowry.

Lowry is assembling the beginnings of an astonishing regular season. He had 34 points and 11 assists in the Raptors loss to Sacramento, Thursday.

A cursory study of Lowry’s numbers stacked up against those of the league’s best point guards reveals the beginning of one of the best ...

Now more than ever, Dwane Casey has to steer his young Raptors.

VIDEO: Latest Raptors Practice

Point guard Kyle Lowry: bruised bone in right foot. Out for a week or two but these things can drag on.

Swingman Alan Anderson: Partially torn plantar fascia tissue in left foot. Three to six weeks.

Landry Fields: Ulnar nerve damage in right elbow surgically repaired on Wednesday. No date for return.

As a wiseguy once said…“Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?”

Right now, in a way he never had to last season, Dwane Casey has ...

DeMar DeRozan has become more aggressive all over the court in the early season.

DeMar DeRozan and the Toronto Raptors.

In the star-laden universe that is the NBA, real prominence means that people plug the player first, and the team second.

Perhaps in no other game does the personality of the team’s best player dictate how that team is perceived.

So the question is: is it DeMar DeRozan and the Toronto Raptors or the other way around?

“As long as my name is mentioned, I don’t care,” DeRozan said. “As long as I’m with ...

Kyle Lowry had a huge night in his Raptors debut. (Ron Turenne/NBAE)

Someone must have known.

Before last night’s Raptor game, a gospel choir warmed up the Air Canada Centre crowd. As the players were introduced the men and women sang…

“We are not afraid.

“We are not afraid.”

Turns out no one was.

Do not adjust your set, Raptor fans. What you are seeing seems to be real and if the result is heartbreaking – the Raptors once led by 11,  the singers had a point.

The Raptors were the hammer and not the nail ...