Life after the Milan Cortina Olympics has been tough for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Toronto is a dismal 0-6-2 since the NHL resumed play following the Winter Games. The Leafs’ latest setback was a 3-1 decision in Montreal on Tuesday night.

Toronto did gain a point with a 4-3 shootout loss to New Jersey on March 4 but followed that up with a 6-2 loss to the New York Rangers.

According to the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp., 45 per cent of Proline players backed New Jersey’s win. Thirty-nine per cent had Toronto at +1.5 goals while 57 per cent correctly took the over at six.

But only 31 per cent of players had New York to earn its victory while 57 per cent had the over at six.

And then Saturday night, the Tampa Bay Lightning added to Toronto’s woes with a 5-2 victory. A solid 77 per cent of bettors backed the Lightning while 73 per cent successfully took the over 6.5 goals.

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Also on Saturday, 91 per cent backed the Winnipeg Jets’ 3-2 victory over Vancouver while 61 per cent correctly picked Montreal in its 4-3 victory over Los Angeles. Just eight per cent of bettors had Calgary earning a 5-4 win over the Carolina Hurricanes while 63 per cent saw the Ottawa Senators downing Seattle 7-4.

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Last week wasn’t a great one for the Toronto Raptors, who went 1-2, the lone victory being a 122-92 decision Sunday over the Dallas Mavericks. That followed losses to the New York Knicks (111-95 on March 3) and a 115-107 to the Minnesota Timberwolves on March 5.

Sixty-nine per cent of bettors backed New York’s win while 77 per cent had the Knicks on the spread at -2.5 points. Twenty per cent took the under at 222 points.

Seventy-three per cent of players backed Minnesota’s win while 51 per cent had the Timberwolves on the spread at -6. Twenty-four per cent had the over of 225.5.

A resounding 91 per cent of bettors had Toronto downing Dallas while 68 per cent had the Raptors on the spread of -10. And 45 per cent had the under at 229 points.

Canada split its first two games at the World Baseball Classic. The Canadians opened with an 8-2 win over Columbia before dropping a 4-3 decision to Panama.

Eighty-four per cent of bettors backed Canada’s opening win with 97 per cent having the Canadians at -1.5 run. Eighty-four per cent had the over at nine.

But only 25 per cent had Panama earning its victory while just 17 per cent of bettors had the winners +4.5 runs. Just 44 per cent took the under at 10.

A digital customer won $1,146.15 on a $2 wager on a six-leg NHL parlay while a retail player turned a $2 bet into a $6,050.40 windfall after hitting on an eight-leg NHL parlay.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 11, 2026.

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TORONTO – Ryan Nembhard’s had many great influences in his basketball career. His father Claude is the chief executive officer of the Ontario Basketball Association, his brother Andrew is the starting point guard for the Indiana Pacers, he grew up around Toronto Raptors star RJ Barrett.

But now Jason Kidd — one of the best point guards in NBA history — is his head coach on the Dallas Mavericks.

The youngest Nembhard signed a two-way deal with the Mavericks in July and he has become a fixture in Dallas’s rotation, appearing in 43 games so far this season.

The native of Aurora, Ont., said that he’s enjoyed learning from Kidd, who was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame as an individual in 2018 and again in 2025 as a member of the so-called Redeem Team that won men’s Olympic basketball gold for the United States in 2008.

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“One of the greatest guards to ever do it, a super high basketball IQ and just understanding of the game,” said Nembhard on Sunday before Toronto routed the Mavericks 122-92. “He’s taught me a lot, and it’s been nice to learn from him and take a lot in.”

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The 22-year-old Nembhard played two seasons of U.S. collegiate ball at Creighton before transferring to Gonzaga for two more years of NCAA basketball. In the 2024-25 season Nembhard averaged 10.5 points, 9.8 assists and three rebounds over 35 games for the Gonzaga Bulldogs.

His 344 assists were the most of any NCAA men’s basketball player that season.

Despite that collegiate success, Nembhard said he still has room to grow.

“It’s been a learning process, obviously, but it’s been good,” said Nembhard in the visitors’ locker room at Scotiabank Arena. “Vets and the team in general have been helping me out throughout the process, just learning on the fly.

“I think I’ve picked it up pretty well.”

Nembhard was averaging 6.6 points, 4.7 assists, 1.8 rebounds and 0.3 steals over 18.5 minutes per game heading into Sunday. He had two points, two assists, a rebound and a steal in five minutes of play against the Raptors.

Kidd said that Nembhard isn’t afraid of NBA-calibre competition and that having an older brother in the league likely helps, too.

“So he understands what it means to work and be counted on. He deserves that contract,” said Kidd. “He’s played extremely well for us, and we need him to do that for the rest of the season.”

Barrett, who grew up playing with Andrew Nembhard, said that Ryan Nembhard has “always been around.”

“Him and my little brother (Nathan) were roommates at Montverde Academy (a prep school in Florida) and everything,” said Barrett. “So, Ryan’s like a little brother to me, and it’s great to see him out there.”

Added Barrett with a laugh: “He stole the ball from me, though. I’m just happy to see him out there getting a shot.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 9, 2026.

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TORONTO – RJ Barrett of Mississauga, Ont., had a season-high 31 points to lead the Toronto Raptors in a 122-92 rout of the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday.

Barrett add six rebounds and three assists as Toronto (36-27) won for the first time in three games. Jakob Poeltl had a double-double with 16 points and 10 boards.

Scottie Barnes added 17 points and five assists for the Raptors, who are trying to hold on to the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference.

Daniel Gafford’s double-double couldn’t help Dallas (21-43) snap its seven-game losing skid. He had 21 points and 12 rebounds.

Rookie sensation Cooper Flagg had 17 points, seven rebounds and six assists. Reserve guard Ryan Nembhard of Aurora, Ont., added two points, two assists and a rebound as the Mavericks cleared their bench with five minutes left to play.

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Trayce Jackson-Davis dislocated his right middle finger during warm-ups, leaving Toronto short-handed at centre with rookie Collin Murray-Boyles already out with a sprained left thumb.

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TAKEAWAYS

Mavericks: Although Dallas had 27 second-chance points to the Raptors’ 12, the visitors were dominated in transition, getting four fast-break points while Toronto scored 21 on the break.

Raptors: A solid 48-for-95 (50.5 per cent) night on field-goal attempts helped Toronto overcome a poor three-point shooting performance where the Raptors went 10-for-36 (27.8 per cent) from beyond the arc. Toronto also shared the ball well, getting 39 assists to the Mavericks’ 22, even as it was outrebounded 48-41. The Raptors took care of the ball with only eight turnovers to Dallas’s 20.

KEY MOMENT

Brandon Ingram’s seven-foot running pull-up shot with 6:28 left in the third quarter capped a 10-0 Raptors run. It also gave Toronto a 21-point lead, its largest of the game to that point.

KEY STAT

Barrett became the eighth Canadian in NBA history to reach 8,000 career points. He joined Steve Nash (17,387), Andrew Wiggins (15,074), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (12,971), Jamal Murray (11,126), Rick Fox (8,966), Kelly Olynyk (8,253) and Dillon Brooks (8,014). Barrett has 8,018 points in his career.

UP NEXT

Dallas: Visits the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday.

Toronto: Visits the Houston Rockets on Tuesday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 8, 2026.

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TORONTO – Every time the Toronto Raptors suffer another loss to a top-10 team, they talk about lessons and process and patience.

But Brandon Ingram also can’t deny that it’s annoying.

“When you fall short, you always get frustrated, especially in the moment,” said Ingram after putting up 31 points in Toronto’s 111-95 loss to the New York Knicks on Tuesday. “But frustration isn’t always bad, you know? There’s something to learn in every single game.

“Tonight was having some lapses on defence and trying to figure out our fourth-quarter execution. But every game that we go to, we get better, and we’re learning, trying to learn how to win.”

They have been hard — and frequent — lessons.

The Raptors (35-26), fifth in the Eastern Conference, dropped to 4-16 against the 10 teams that are ahead of them in the NBA’s standings. Toronto is 1-12 at Scotiabank Arena against opponents with better records and has lost 14 of its last 15 games against top-10 teams.

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“We’ve got to figure out our fourth-quarter execution, exactly what we want to go to,” said Ingram. “I think every time we play a good team, they know exactly what they want to go to in the fourth quarter, and they do it over again and over again.

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“The good thing is we’re in the games, but we’ve got to figure out how to finish the game.”

Raptors guard Immanuel Quickley scored an eight-foot running pull-up shot with 5:50 left to play and cut New York’s lead to 95-93. The Knicks responded with a 16-2 run to close out the game for a decisive victory.

“We had our chances. We had our opportunities,” said Toronto head coach Darko Rajakovic. “This is a really good team, a really good offensive rebounding team. We kept them to seven rebounds. A lot of positive stuff.

“We’re just going to get back to work and continue getting better.”

Jalen Brunson finished with 26 points and 10 assists as New York (40-22) won its third consecutive game. Karl-Anthony Towns added 21 points with 13 rebounds.

Quickley had a double-double with 13 points and 12 assists for the Raptors and RJ Barrett of Mississauga, Ont., scored 20, with nine points in the fourth quarter.

“We couldn’t really get our offence going the way we wanted to in the last couple minutes,” said starting centre Jakob Poeltl. “It’s another learning experience for us to be better in those situations.

“They’re a team that has playoff experience and stuff like that. They’re used to these kind of situations, and I feel like we’re getting there, but we’re obviously not on that level yet.”

Rookie centre Collin Murray-Boyles, who has earned 22 starts with the Raptors this season, sat out with a left thumb sprain. Rajakovic said his presence was missed throughout the game.

“His ability to rebound the ball, his ability to run in transition and provide us an outlet on the baseline,” said Rajakovic. “He’s setting really good screens, good roller.

“Defensively, he’s a guy who can pick up on any matchup and does a really good job of that. He was missed tonight, big time.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 4, 2026.

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TORONTO – When Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady bought a minority stake in the Buffalo Bills, they insisted they’d do more than just contribute to the NFL team financially.

That was evident as they hosted Bills Night on Tuesday as the Toronto Raptors hosted the New York Knicks. Carter, whose jersey was retired by the Raptors in an emotional ceremony last season, said that the collaboration was all about fun.

“The appreciation for both sports, coming together, learning what American football is about,” said Carter in the media centre at Scotiabank Arena, noting there were a couple of Bills players attending the game. “They’ve never had the opportunity to experience what Raptors basketball looks like nowadays and that’s what we want.

“We want the appreciation to both sides, and that’s why we were excited about joining the Bills, having the opportunity to bring this collaboration together.”

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Carter and McGrady, cousins who both started their careers with the Raptors in the late 1990s, said they hoped the passionate fanbases of the NBA and NFL teams would rub off on each other.

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“Seeing what Jurassic Park looks like, particularly when they’re on the road during the playoffs and those things,” said Carter, who was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2024. “Seeing what Bills Mafia, if you’ve never had that opportunity, I recommend it, if you’re not a part of it, just to watch it.

“It’s just something special and (we want) both sides to kind of collab and do it together.”

Carter, McGrady and former Toronto FC forward Jozy Altidore are part of a group of private equity investors that bought a 20 per cent stake in the Bills in December 2024.

Bills players DeWayne Carter, Landon Jackson, and Michael Hoecht of Oakville, Ont., were introduced to the sold-out crowd at Scotiabank Arena during a stoppage of play in the first quarter, throwing signed footballs to fans. Combo Raptors-Bills T-shirts were also given away to all spectators in attendance.

McGrady and Carter both grew up in Florida and said that football was formative to them as kids. McGrady said that one particular memory stuck with him.

“My mom worked at Disney World, and I remember the day I was, like nine years old, she came home and she brought me a Randall Cunningham autograph,” said McGrady, who was inducted into basketball’s Hall of Fame in 2017. “They used to have the Pro Bowl in Orlando, right? So she came home, I was super excited.

“I was a fan of all sports, that was my life, even as a kid, but it was definitely embedded in me.”

That love of all sports remains in McGrady who said that he even intends to go through the Bills Mafia tradition of jumping through a folding table, probably.

“I’ve already told him, I’m going to do it,” said McGrady, gesturing to Carter.

“Right now, I can’t do it,” added McGrady, rubbing his knee. “We’re going to build to it.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 3, 2026.

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TORONTO – The Toronto Raptors are well aware that they need to find a way to play a consistent 48 minutes and hold on to leads against the NBA’s best teams.

The only question is: how?

“I think we have to be better at communicating when we have the momentum to keep the momentum, not getting so caught up into being up 10 by the fourth quarter, actually just pushing even harder when we get those leads like that,” said all-star Brandon Ingram on Friday after stepping off the court at OVO Athletic Centre, the Raptors’ practice facility. “I think it falls on all of us.

“We have to have communication at that time to have a push, another push, until the game is over.”

The Raptors led by as many as 10 points on Tuesday night in a 116-107 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. The next night, Toronto led the San Antonio Spurs by as many as 15 points and had a 12-point advantage heading into the fourth quarter.

Those losses dropped the Raptors to 4-15 against the league’s top 10 teams with three of those wins against the Cleveland Cavaliers before they acquired 11-time all-star James Harden in a trade with the Los Angeles Clippers on Feb. 4.

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Ingram said that consistency was the focus of Toronto’s practice on Friday.

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“We went over the things that we could do a little bit better, some of the lapses that we had during the games, in both games, on the defensive side of the ball, screen and roll,” said Ingram. “We just had a few miscommunications that could have helped us out, some of our fourth quarter execution, just trying to pick a pace up in the fourth quarter and not slow down as much.”

The loss to San Antonio was the fifth time this season that Toronto had lost after holding a double-digit lead, the most in the NBA. Head coach Darko Rajakovic said that it wasn’t possible to stop blowing leads, that it’s not a switch that can be flipped.

“We also had a bunch of games that we were down 10, 15 and we came back and won the game,” said Rajakovic. “So is the recipe to be 15 points down so we can get back in the game and win? Maybe there’s the solution, right?

“It really comes down to execution of every single play.”

Rajakovic also pointed to two injuries on Wednesday that limited the Raptors’ ability to close out against the Spurs.

Rookie centre Collin Murray-Boyles, who had been tasked with defending San Antonio star Victor Wembanyama, left the game early after he aggravated a sprained left thumb. All-star Scottie Barnes, who suffered a right quad contusion against OKC, was struggling to walk by the fourth quarter against San Antonio.

Murray-Boyles rested on Friday but Barnes went through the whole practice.

Toronto (34-25) is still in a playoff position, sitting in fifth in the Eastern Conference, a game ahead of the Philadelphia 76ers (33-26). Ingram said that although he was disappointed in the back-to-back losses, “it felt good” to test his team’s mettle against the Western Conference’s two best teams.

“The thing that I love about this group is the resiliency,” said Ingram, noting that Toronto was down by 25 to OKC but battled back. “We had a chance to shift the momentum, but we made a couple mistakes that we can learn from.

“I’m just happy to be in those games, being able to go back to the film and learn and see what we can do better for the next game.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 27, 2026.

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TORONTO – When the Toronto Raptors announced their starting lineup against the San Antonio Spurs, there was a small surprise at centre with rookie Collin Murray-Boyles taking the tipoff instead of veteran Jakob Poeltl.

The seven-foot, 253-pound Poeltl is the tallest player on the Raptors by three inches and the heaviest by eight pounds. He’s also one of the most experienced players on Toronto’s roster and would presumably be able to give seven-foot-four Spurs big man Victor Wembanyama a hard time.

Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic had other plans, however.

“Our focus was to be physical with them in general, particularly Wemby,” said Poeltl of the strategy. “We know when he finds his rhythm and can play free, he’s a really good basketball player, a really good shotmaker.

“We try to make it as hard on him as possible and physicality was a big part of that.”

On an individual level, the plan worked. Wembanyama was limited to 12 points but had seven rebounds and five blocks. Poeltl finished with 15 points, seven rebounds and three blocks.

Toronto came up short overall, losing to San Antonio 110-107 on Wednesday, their second loss in a row. The Raptors dropped a 116-107 decision to the Oklahoma City Thunder the day before as Toronto hosted the top two teams in the NBA’s Western Conference on back-to-back nights.

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“I’m satisfied, but not happy,” said Rajakovic. “I thought that on a back to back, playing against such a good team, we really gave them a hell of a fight over there.

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“I thought that we did a really good job, made it really hard, on their main guys. Did as well as you can do against Wembanyama.”

The 22-year-old Wembanyama was the first overall pick in the NBA’s 2023 draft. He was the 2024 Rookie of the Year and is a two-time all-star. He was averaging 24.2 points, 11.3 rebounds and 2.8 blocks per game heading into the game against Toronto.

Poeltl appreciated Rajakovic’s strategic gambit against the Spurs’ dominant centre.

“I really don’t mind either way,” said Poeltl. “They wanted CMB to be really aggressive with Wemby.

“I don’t mind. I like playing with the bench unit. I like playing with the starters. I’ll figure out a way to fit in.”

Toronto led the Spurs by as many as 15 points in the game and had a 12-point advantage heading into the fourth quarter. San Antonio opened the final period on a 15-2 tear to take back control of the game.

Rajakovic had chosen not to put all-stars Brandon Ingram and Scottie Barnes on the floor to start the fourth.

“Brandon never starts the fourth quarter because he played for the entire third quarter,” said Rajakovic, who noted that Barnes had aggravated a right quad contusion he’d suffered on Tuesday against the Thunder. “(Barnes) was really playing through the pain, so he was in constant communication with us.

“He was saying, ‘if you guys don’t have to play me, try to keep the momentum.’ So we had that technical communication.”

Ingram had a double-double with 20 points and a season-high 11 rebounds. Barnes scored 15.

It was the fifth time this season Toronto had lost after holding a double-digit lead, the most in the NBA.

The loss dropped the Raptors to 4-15 against the league’s top 10 teams with three of those wins against the Cleveland Cavaliers before they acquired 11-time all-star James Harden in a trade with the Los Angeles Clippers on Feb. 4.

“I think this is good for us, especially me,” said Toronto point guard Immanuel Quickley. “I feel like just the last couple games I have gone against some really good defenders.

“This is good for me and for the rest of our team, just being able to get a taste of that experience of teams that are being really physical, especially the good teams.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 26, 2026.

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