page_title: 2007–08 Toronto Raptors season
section_title: Regular season
hierarchical_section_title: 2007–08 Toronto Raptors season / Regular season
caption_attribution_description: Andrea Bargnani
context_page_description: The 2007–08 Toronto Raptors season was the 13th National Basketball Association season for the Toronto Raptors basketball franchise, with the 2007–08 season scheduled to begin in October 2007. The major acquisition was that of three-point specialist Jason Kapono from the Miami Heat, and much expectations also rested on the maturing of Andrea Bargnani, Toronto's number one draft pick in 2006. With an overwhelming majority of home game sellouts, the Raptors qualified for the playoffs for the second year running, but this time around as the sixth seed. The Raptors faced the third seed Orlando Magic, and were eliminated in five games.
context_section_description: The Raptors were once again led by captain and All-Star power forward Chris Bosh, while much hope was rested on the number one pick of the 2006 NBA draft, Andrea Bargnani, who was slated to start as centre. Point guards T. J. Ford and José Calderón were to be deployed in tandem, Anthony Parker filled in the shooting guard position and Kapono featured as the starting small forward (Jorge Garbajosa was ruled out for the whole season seven games into the campaign). Initially, this lineup worked well enough as Toronto won its first two games of the campaign; in its second game against the New Jersey Nets, it set franchise records for biggest margin of victory in a road game, and fewest points conceded in a road game. However, the Raptors lost the next three games: Bosh and Bargnani could not seem to play well together, and Parker went through a bad shooting streak. This prompted coach Sam Mitchell to replace Bargnani with the veteran Radoslav Nesterović as the starting centre to give the team a greater defensive presence. Toronto rebounded immediately with a road victory against the Philadelphia 76ers, and the athletic Moon was also promoted to the starting team in the next game against the Chicago Bulls, and the Raptors scored the largest win against Bulls in franchise history.
  Nevertheless, the Boston Celtics, who had acquired NBA All-Stars Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen before the season began, were setting the pace in the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference as pundits had predicted (they would go on to record a league-best 66 wins in the regular season). Meanwhile, the Raptors struggled to maintain a .500 record. Moon was kept in the starting lineup for the most part and the rookie put up several good performances, while Calderón—who would lead the league with a 5.38 to 1 assist-to-turnover ratio by the season's end—was equally outstanding stepping in for Ford who had suffered a severe injury to his back. Delfino was a revelation as well, contributing on both ends of the court when he was first brought into the fold. Bargnani on the other hand did not perform as expected and apart from Bosh, the frontcourt often saw the rotation of the Italian, Nesterovič and Kris Humphries. Kapono, in the meantime, was seldom used to his full potential, either in terms of minutes played or shots attempted.
  December was a particularly challenging period, with injuries to several key players, a long road trip and games against some of the best teams in the league. Toronto reached the mid-season mark with a 22–19 record and ranked as the best three-point shooting and second best free-throw shooting team in the NBA. It marked the start of its latter half of the season with a road win against Boston, and January proved to be the best month yet as Toronto capitalised on home advantage and went 8–5.
  The 2008 NBA All-Star Weekend featured four Raptors: Bosh as the starting power forward for the East in the All-Star game, Bargnani and Moon for the Rookie/Sophomore Challenge, Moon for the Slam Dunk contest, and Kapono for the Three-Point Shootout. By this period, Bargnani and Bosh were beginning to combine more effectively, while Calderón continued to put in impressive performances regularly. Juan Dixon was traded to Detroit Pistons for Slovenian centre Primož Brezec before the trading deadline.
  February and early March featured mostly opponents from the lower half of the league table, but Toronto had difficulties pulling away from the .500 mark, although the home win over the Knicks on 24 February 2008—their 54th game of the campaign—was the fastest Toronto ever reached the 30-win mark in a season. Nevertheless, the loss of Bosh for several games in the final third of the campaign sent the Raptors struggle even further; in a heavy 102–137 defeat to the Denver Nuggets on 14 March 2007, the team set a franchise record for most first-half points given up. With Boston dominating the division—and subsequently winning the title easily—Toronto's problems were exacerbated by Ford's increasing frustration at playing backup to Calderón, and there were e
caption: Toronto looked to their 2006 number 1 pick Andrea Bargnani to combine with Chris Bosh to form the Raptors frontcourt, but the Italian struggled for the most part of the season.
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