Their bench backcourt was outstanding against the Hawks. Lou Williams 26min, 22p, 2a, 3stl Vazquez 17min, 21p, 3a, 2r
Must be nice playing in the east with a conference that has the knicks, 76ers, Nets and Boston to play and piss on.
They honestly must have the bench in the NBA right now. Their bench outscored their starters on wednesday. Dallas will be a good test tonight.
Soft schedule, but 13-2 is 13-2. Teams play powder puff teams all the time and rack up worse records. Just look at the Rockets and the Lakers. Toronto is legit. The only question remaining is how legit are they? They've essentially locked up the Atlantic and home court since they're already 6.5 games ahead of their nearest division competitor (Brooklyn), and they're 3.5 games up on the rest of the East so I think they're a near lock on a top 3 seed in the East. The Wizards have a few too many holes on their roster for my liking. And I just don't see Milwaukee, Atlanta or the Heat running them down by the end of the season. As it stands right now, if they go .500 for their remaining 67 games they'll end up with around 48 games (which was more than enough for 3rd seed last season). And I fully expect them to do better than .500 for the remainder of the season. The rest is on Derrick Rose and whether the Cavs can get their acts together by the play offs in terms of how high the Raptors end up seeded.
IF the Raptors keep motoring, continue beating teams they should and win a decent share against good teams, I don't think the Cavs will catch them. LeBron & Kyrie won't (or shouldn't) average 38 mins/game the entire season and lack of depth will cost the Cavs. If Rose gets healthy, the Bulls have the talent and depth to mow the Eastern Conference down like a machine. Even if he doesn't, I believe they could still catch the Raptors. I'm one of the minority that doesn't believe home court in the playoffs is all that big a deal. It matters sometimes, but rarely. The Cavs, in particular, have to take the long view. It's important their top guys find comfort on offense, get the ball in their favorite spots and develop chemistry. They also need to trade for wing depth and a C. Hitting stride at the right time is more important than being seed #2 vs #3. Being #1 vs #2 might be worth fighting for.
If I'm the Raptors I think getting #1 vs #2 or #3 to be critical if you assume that the #2 and #3 seeds will be Chicago and Cleveland. Having Chicago and Cleveland on the same side of the bracket means that the Raptors only have to go through ONE of those two teams. While I believe it's possible that Toronto could get through one of those teams (though not favored), I think it's highly unlikely they could get through Chicago AND Cleveland. That's just way too much to expect of a relatively young and inexperienced play off team. Now if Chicago or Cleveland end up in the #4 seed, then Toronto is screwed no matter which side of the bracket they're on. At that point it's pretty much a "pick your poison" situation. Do you want to take on Chicago or Cleveland first? Personally if I'm the Raptors I'd rather take on Cleveland first. Cleveland will be playing their first year together so the sooner you take them on the better off you'll be. The last thing they need is even more time to gel. Whereas the longer that Chicago is playing the harder it will be on them given the age of Gasol and the question marks surrounding Rose's ability to maintain his health for the season and through the play offs. Either way, you want home court against both of those teams. The Raptors are one of the teams that have an actual home court advantage in terms of fan support. 30k people outside the stadium during the first round of the play offs last year and non-stop screaming is a real advantage, especially when you're talking a younger team like the Raptors.
That was my point regarding the Cavs and would also apply to the Raptors. If the Bulls and Cavs are hitting stride, they will beat the Raptors with or without home court. Game 7 won't happen. To repeat: I'm assuming the Cavs make a trade or two for a C and a rotation swing man.
