Toronto Raptors playing with a chip on their shoulder

The Toronto Raptors are shaking off those nice Canadian stereotypes, proving that they’re not just the polite and friendly team north of the border.

They’re second place in the Eastern Conference, and even after a 34-point blowout over Cleveland last week, the playoff discussion in the East seems to surround just the Cavaliers and Celtics.

It’s no wonder the Raptors are playing with a chip on their shoulder.

The Dinos earned a season-high four technical fouls in their game against the Sixers on Monday, one of which led to the ejection of Kyle Lowry. Toronto’s All-Star guard even invited Philadelphia’s Ben Simmons to meet him in the tunnel after the two were ejected (though Simmons maintains that didn’t actually happened). This wasn’t the first time Lowry’s temper has gotten the best of him this season: he’s second in the NBA in ejections with two, and tenth in the league in technical fouls with five.

And it’s not just Lowry. This season alone, Raptors’ forward Serge Ibaka has racked up three technical fouls, one disqualification, one ejection and two suspensions: one for an altercation with Miami’s James Johnson, and another after an altercation with a member of the Raptors’ team staff.

And DeMar DeRozan — who is coming off a career-high 13 technical fouls in 2016-17 — has already been given three techs and has been fined twice, totaling $40K, in the last week.

But it’s not just the players who are losing their tempers. Although head coach Dwane Casey only has one technical foul on the year, which he earned on Monday night against Philly, he too hasn’t been shy about expressing his frustrations.

The Raptors are currently enjoying a great season as they’re on pace to have their most successful campaign in franchise history. The culture change that President Masai Ujiri spoke of during the offseason has seamlessly come together, with the Raptors ranking 11th in assists while climbing into the top 5 in 3-point attempts per game.

So what’s up with the giant chip on their shoulder? Where is all of this pent-up anger coming from?

To be fair to the Raptors, they’re not the only team that’s been getting into it with the referees. Several superstars have been vocal about the referees tuning the players out this season. LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Steph Curry and Kevin Durant have all been thrown out of games (Durant has actually been ejected three times so far in 2017-18). The contentious discord between the players and the refs encouraged Lee Seham of the National Basketball Referees Association to discuss the issue with Michele Roberts, executive director of the players association.

But for Raptors fans, this recent run of fines and ejections is hard to ignore.

The club currently sits 3.5 games ahead of the Cavaliers for second place in the East, trailing the first-place Celtics by the same total. If there ever was a time to seize the opportunity, now is the time. The team has likely placed a great deal of pressure on itself to grab the crown and enter the playoffs as the top seed in the East. And when the calls aren’t going your way, frustrations can begin to boil over.

There’s also the perceived lack of respect around the Raptors and the Eastern Conference. Despite their current spot in the standings, it seems the Raptors continue to be overlooked in the East.

Of course, we may just be grasping at straws here. There may be no definitive explanation for Toronto’s recent run of fines and ejections, but there’s no denying that this year’s team is more passionate than ever.

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