Toronto Raptors: 3 overreactions through 3 games

1. The Raptors are a title favorite

This is the easiest and most understandable leap to make from the Raptors’ 3-0 start. It’s also the one most fraught with small sample size problems.

Prior to the start of play on Sunday, the Raptors were the only 3-0 team in the entire league, with the Denver Nuggets joining them after beating the 2-0 Golden State Warriors.

Granted, the Raptors entered the season as one of the Eastern Conference’s best teams, along with the Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers. Therefore, that head-to-head win over Boston is cited as a chief reason for Toronto moving above the fray in the East.

Just as it’s a small sample size for the Raptors, however, it’s just as small a sample for Boston. That defeat was just the second game for the Celtics, who care much more about reintegrating Gordon Hayward into the lineup than racking up wins right now.

Meanwhile, Toronto’s first win of the season came against the hapless Cleveland Cavaliers, trying to find life after LeBron James.

The combined record of Toronto’s non-Boston conquests? 0-4. And Toronto’s next three games come at home as well.

All of these factors point to a simple truth: It’s too soon to know much of anything. It’s great that Toronto is off to such a hot start. Hopefully it’s a foreshadowing of a great, maybe even historic season to come. But to declare as much after three games would be foolhardy.