Exactly one year after Rudy Gobert’s positive COVID-19 test ground last NBA season to a halt, the Toronto Raptors are set to start the second half of an up-and-down 2020-21 campaign.

Toronto’s 17-19 record matches their loss total from all of last season as they enter play clinging to the eighth seed in a crowded Eastern Conference. One game behind and on deck Thursday night are the 16-20 Atlanta Hawks, who have gone through a disappointing stretch of their own. With the March 25 trade deadline fast approaching and the league’s schedule 10 games shorter this year, neither team has much time to waste.

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The Raptors limped into the break, dropping four of their final five games and playing the last two without the majority of their coaching staff, including Nick Nurse, as well as Pascal Siakam, Fred VanVleet, OG Anunoby, Malachi Flynn and Patrick McCaw due to health and safety protocols.

Nurse will be back Thursday night, but the other five will remain out. To make matters worse, an already thin Raptors team could be even thinner as guard Terence Davis is questionable with a left ankle sprain he suffered in the first-half finale after dropping 22 points off the bench.

“I think you just got to roll with the punches,” Norman Powell told reporters after the loss to the Boston Celtics last week.

“We just got to figure it out and keep going with a next-man-up mentality. I think no matter who we have out here, we got people who can play our style of basketball and a team that can still put out a winning product.”

Powell has actually been one of Toronto’s lone bright spots not just of late, but this season. With the team’s top two scorers in Siakam and VanVleet sidelined, the 27-year-old averaged north of 30 points per game in the three games leading up to the break. He now has his scoring average up to a career-best 18.4 points per game while shooting an efficient 43.8 per cent from deep.

On the flip side, 2020-21 was supposed to signify a giant leap forward for the Hawks, who brought in free agents Danilo Gallinari, Bogdan Bogdanovic and Rajon Rondo to pair with Trae Young and John Collins. After their 11th loss in 15 games dropping their record to 14-20, the Hawks fired head coach Lloyd Pierce and replaced him with Nate McMillan. Atlanta has won both games since, including a victory over the Heat where they held Miami to a season-low 80 points.

In their only meeting so far this season on Feb. 6, the Hawks beat the Raptors 132-121 behind well-rounded efforts from Young and Clint Capela. Young led the Hawks with 28 points and 13 assists, while Capela chipped in with 23 points and 16 rebounds, giving the Raps all they could handle inside. The 132 is tied for the most points Toronto has allowed all season while the Hawks set season-highs in field goal percentage (56.8) and three-point percentage (52.8).

"I think we probably had enough points to win tonight, scoring-wise. I would like to think if we score 121, we can win a game, but we just didn't have the juice to guard them tonight. They shot their way to a W,” Nurse said after his team's loss.

While they would have the same record, a loss Thursday night means Atlanta owns the head-to-head tiebreaker over Toronto. As teams try to earn one of the top six Eastern Conference spots and avoid the play-in round, games like these are crucial to both opponents.

“I think we are starting to hit a little stride,” said Powell. “Trying to figure it out. We had been stringing two, three wins together. We’re just waiting for that good stretch of five, six, seven wins in a row that we normally have throughout a season. I think it will be a lot better when those guys come out of protocol. They should be well rested and fresh for the second half of the season.”