Toronto Raptors: What you need to know about the second half of the 2020-21 schedule

Following the All-Star Game, which will take place on March 7, the Toronto Raptors will open the second half of their schedule on March 11 when they take on the Atlanta Hawks.

The Raptors, who had 37 games scheduled for the first half of the season, are slated to take the floor 35 more times in the abbreviated 72-game season, which ends on Sunday, May 16, when the Indiana Pacers make their lone trip to Tampa.

Take a look at the full 35-game schedule below:

*All times Eastern

*Bold denotes home game 

Here's all you need to know about this schedule…

A 'home'-heavy schedule

The Raptors, who travelled more than any other team during the first half of the schedule, will benefit in the second half by playing just 16 of their remaining 35 games on the road.

While Tampa is only the team's temporary home, more certainty should mean more comfort in the second half of the season as a number of players have recently expressed that they have finally settled in Central Florida for the time being.

Bigger than any benefit from a temporary homecourt advantage (however minor it may be) is that the team just won't have to travel as much, making for less adjustment and literal mileage on the team.

The Raptors longest homestand comes in mid-April when they play five-consecutive games at Amalie Arena from April 13 to April 21.

Speaking of mileage…

The Longest Trip

In the first half of the season, the Raptors travelled away from Tampa for a six-game road trip while the city hosted Super Bowl LV.

In the second half, Toronto's longest road trip will be just four games long.

The Raptors head West one more time as they travel to Denver to take on the Nuggets on April 29 before travelling to take on the Utah Jazz on May 1 and closing the trip in Los Angeles with meetings against the Lakers (May 2) and the LA Clippers (May 4).

It's the second straight season in which Toronto makes just one trip to Los Angeles to face the Lakers and Clippers in succession. In November 2019, the Raptors earned a nine-point win over the Lakers before losing to the Clippers by 10 points on the next night.

With a day of rest in between meetings, the Raptors will look for a different outcome.

More back-to-backs

Back-to-backs are always a reality of the NBA schedule but especially so in a shortened year with a truncated schedule.

After playing in six sets of back-to-backs in the first half of the schedule, Toronto will play in an additional eight during the second half:

If you need a refresher, here's how the Raptors fared during back-to-backs during the first half of the season:

With the Philadelphia-Miami back-to-back yet to be decided, it should be encouraging that the Raptors got at least one win in a back-to-back in all but one set. Dating back to December 2017, the Raptors have lost on both ends of a back-to-back just once.

Opponent breakdown

In the first half of the season, the Raptors completed their season series with seven different teams: Boston Celtics, Miami Heat, Milwaukee Bucks, Minnesota Timberwolves, New Orleans Pelicans, Philadelphia 76ers and Sacramento Kings.

With that in mind, Toronto will face 22 different opponents in the second half of the season, six of whom it did not meet in the first half of the season. Below, find a breakdown of how often Toronto faces each opponent, when they meet and the current season series.

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