Mar 31, 2026
3 min read
The phrase "31-0 run" in basketball can trigger visions of rhapsodic, beautiful game ball movement, virtuoso shooting and unbeatable defense.The current 31-0 run by the Toronto Raptors on Sunday seemed a little more ordinary than that.If there's anything spectacular on display, it's the team's ineptitude: the Orlando Magic, who have lost seven of their last eight games while on the court.True, it takes a team's best, and the Raptors' 31-0 run is the longest in the NBA's play-by-play era, which began in the 1997-98 season.They would use that run, 139-87, for the worst loss in Magic franchise history.
Give Toronto as much credit as they deserve.They have the fifth-ranked defensive rating in the league, and even without one of their best defenders, the diminutive Draymond rookie Colin Murray-Boyles like last night, they're a strong team on that side of the floor.Scotty Barnes is a rare gem in this game who has 100 blocks and 100 steals in a season, the first Andre to do so.Since Drummond in 2018-19.The Raptors use one of the more aggressive schemes in the league, and they pressure Orlando brutally on the ball and mix it up on blitzes.But this defense isn't so special that it's unlikely an NBA team will ever pass the ball midcourt in a late March game.
If a team's offensive engine—in this case, Paolo Banchero—is cleaned up by Jakob Poeltl from outside the three-point line, his problems are better than any 52-point blowout.Even at the best of times, the Magic lack the ball handling and shooting performance expected of a point guard.playoff group.Injuries to guards Anthony Black and Franz Wagner only threatened the deficiencies to look;Some doubts about the location of their star wings have long been resolved.
The Raptors trailed 20-14 to the Orlando Magic with 5:17 left in the first quarter when the game started with two free throws by Raptors guard Jamal Shead.It ended with a layup by Banchero with 9:42 left in the second quarter.Between those two events, the Magic committed 10 turnovers, from routine slow passes to layup attempts in the air.The Raptors were good in transition for the duration of the game.Big man Sandro Mamukelashvili led Toronto in scoring during the spree, pouring in 11 points, while the Magic couldn't hit a shot.
Magic coach Jamahl Mosley, who may not be on the job long, called two timeouts on the run and took the blame after the game.fifth place in the East with a win, and the Magic still sit in eighth place.
This Orlando team doesn't play the defense it used to -- 16th in defensive rating, 17th in offensive rating -- and it's hard to get recognition.It was in the pipeline, but we don't have it definitively right now."
I'll spare you the oddest details of this feat, courtesy of Keerthika Uthayakumar: There have been two 30-plus point streaks in the last 30 NBA seasons, and backup guard A.J.Lawson was on the court for the scoring team in both.Lost 126-120 to the Thunder.
