The2014–15Toronto Raptors season was the 20th season of the franchise in theNational Basketball Association (NBA).[1] In honor of the Raptors 20th season, they revealed the throwback purple "dino" jerseys to wear on several nights. The Raptors repeated asAtlantic Division champions for the first time in franchise history, and finished in fourth place in Eastern conference, winning 49 games during the regular season, breaking their franchise record of 48 wins in theprevious season. Despite this achievement, the fourth-seeded Raptors were unexpectedly swept in the opening round of the playoffs by the fifth-seededWashington Wizards as they extended their post-season series victory drought. Their all-time playoff series record dipped to one and seven, now having lost their last six consecutive series, and their lone series win coming in 2001 against the Knicks. This year's defeat was primarily blamed on the team's poor defense which was notably exploited by the Wizards.
The Raptors took advantage of a favourable early schedule to reach the top spot in the Eastern Conference for the first time in franchise history as well as having the best start in franchise history with a 9–2 record. They briefly fell back to second after a loss to theChicago Bulls, but regained the number one position one game later, which was followed by six-game winning streak. The Raptors remained asEastern Conference leaders, but on November 28, 2014, the Raptors not only lost their position as NBA-leaders in a 106–102 loss to theDallas Mavericks that dropped them to a 13–3 record but also faced a major setback when All-StarDeMar DeRozan tore his left adductor longus tendon in the third quarter of the game. This was followed by another loss to theLos Angeles Lakers in overtime two nights later whenKobe Bryant recorded his first triple double of the season defeating the Raptors 129–122. The Raptors also fell to theCleveland Cavaliers in back-to-back games before entering a six-game winning streak without DeRozan. However, things began to fall apart after a six-game road trip during the winter holidays where they lost 4 of those 6 games as poor defense led to a 2–8 record in their first ten games in January. The downfall dropped the team from first place to theAtlanta Hawks and found themselves battling for second with theWashington Wizards as DeRozan returned to the lineup on January 14. On January 22,Kyle Lowry was named as a starter for the2015 NBA All-Star Game after a last-minute voting rally by fans with help by Canadian Prime MinisterStephen Harper and celebrityJustin Bieber (who tweeted his support on Twitter but failed to include '#NBAballot' in his tweet) helped Lowry overtakeDwyane Wade who was second in the backcourt votes. This makes him the third Raptor to start in the all-star game afterChris Bosh andVince Carter. The Raptors ended the month of January on a positive note with a six-game winning streak which included back-to-back overtime victories to theBrooklyn Nets andWashington Wizards however, struggled in February as the Raptors went 4–7. The rest of the season represented a decline for the Raptors as they won just 13 of 29 games after the all-star break and all-star point guard Lowry averaged 15.3 PPG while struggling with back spasms in the latter part of the season. Despite the lows, the Raptors finished once again asAtlantic Division Champions finishing with a franchise-high 49 wins while clinching the fourth seed.
The Raptors faced off against the Wizards in the opening round of the playoffs where they once again facedPaul Pierce who faced the Raptors in the previous year with theBrooklyn Nets where he blocked a potential game-winning shot by Lowry. Much of the anticipation for the playoffs were created by Pierce who stated that the Raptors 'did not have it' which disgruntled many Raptor fans.
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