slash_010

Assuming Washington stays sixth, two teams have a chance to face an injury riddled team and have them exit early in the Playoffs. Currently, the Raptors are third in the East Conference, while the Heat is 1.5 games away sitting fourth overall. The Raptors have 7 games remaining to end the season while the Heat has 8 more. Can the Raptors sustain their third spot and advance to face Washington of will the Heat take over in the next two weeks?

Raptors Schedule
April 6 @ PHI
April 8 vs CHI
April 9 @ MIN
April 13 vs DET
April 15 vs NYK
April 17 @ DET
April 18 vs PHI

VERSUS

Heats Schedule
April 5 @ CLE
April 6 @ BOS
April 8 vs CHA
April 10 @ CHA
April 11 vs WAS
April 13 vs IND
April 16 vs BOS
April 18 @ ORL

As it looks, Miami has an easier stretch of game which could see them take 3rd. Your thoughts?

speedythief

I'd be surprised if the Heat lost more than one game for the rest of the year. If they beat the Cavs it is conceivable that they could run the table.

As for us, hopefully Detroit can clinch before we play them. If so we should at least be able to get a split, considering they will probably put Billups and 'em on the pine until the playoffs begin.

To lock up our spot we need to win what, six of seven? Not impossible.

A Heat loss tonight would help big time.

dirtybird

Obviously we have the tougher schedule, but we have road games against very beatable opponents. Depending on how things go, the Pistons may not try to win their last game against us if they got the 1st seed locked up. It's probably very hard to keep the 3rd seed, which was why I thought anyone who said we should tank against the Heat were flat out wrong. Imagine having a 3.5 game lead over them. Let them figure out how to overtake the Wiz. It's a mute point now, but at least we showed that we could beat the Heat on the road even if our shots aren't falling. The one area of concern is that both our PG's struggled with their shooting in both games.

So finishing 3rd is possible, much more probable than being a good team when the season started.

ballocks

if the raptors are going to look to a specific seed right now, i'd suggest it be #2. i don't think it's necessarily impossible to catch cleveland- though highly improbable, yes- and i don't think it's healthy to have our eye on just one team (that being miami). if we win the rest of our games (not out of my realm of imagination), we'll put ourselves in a realistic position to snag # 2. that's key to home court in round 2 and our opening round opponent. making it seem like a battle for the 3 seed is just dangerous. i wouldn't recommend taking that approach; with our team, i think we'd fail in that contest.

we'd only get 3 if we set our sights on 2.

peace

dirtybird

I just was thinking the same thing. CLE and CHI are only 3 and 2.5 games away from us. I think that we have a decent shot at catching CHI because we play them once (at home)and play NJ twice (who they already lost twice to).

jibe

my understanding is that the top 4 spots in the eastern conference are reserved for the first place finishers in each division plus the best second place finisher. that's why raps an heat are ahead of the bulls who have a better w-l record.

also i understand that if the 5th place finisher has a better w-l record than the 4th place team, the 5th place team will get home court advantage.

if bulls go ahead of the cavs they will be in second place in the conference an cavs will drop to 5th. if heat improve over the raps they will end up in third place.

if the raps hold on to third they could be playing the wizards but if they fall to fourth they could be playing the bulls or cavs an likely be out in the first round.

best for raps to hold on to third an hopefully play the injured wizards, unless the nets can beat out the wiz ... an then the raps could be going into the second round !!

Dee-Zy

aren't nets like 6 or 8 gb of wiz? not going to happend

I agree that if you want 3rd you have to aim for 2, but Ballocks, it is like aiming for Jessica Alba to try and land the hot girl in class... doesn't make much sense in our situation.

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crimedog

nets are 4 back of wiz...and the wiz are jamison and a bench squad...so not totally insurmountable

speedythief

The Heat beat the Cavs...

Toronto gets a playoff preview Sunday, it would seem.

Playing the Bulls without home court is bad news.

kirk_2003

i have faith in those Bobcats..

ChristopherJ

Damn...The Raps would be sitting pretty if they had defeated Miami the other day and Miami had lost tonight to Cleveland.

Hopefully the Raps can go on a run and some of Miami's opponents can score the upset. All I know is a first round matchup with the Wizards equals an automatic 2nd round playoff berth..

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Budweiser_Boy

Those Celtics and Heat losses sure look bad now.

Divine Spammer

Yup.

The Raps must make a serious effort now to clinch home court advantage.
Can't lose a game. Remember- the Heat have the tie break on us.
It's hard to believe will catch up with the Bulls. Have you seen them beat the Pistons? They're nasty...

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Arguments, agreements, advice, answers,
Articulate announcements
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SkywalkerAC

I'm not going to lie - I'm really high and drunk right now. It's exactly 7:11 AM and I've been losing myself in myself, if you know what I mean. Anyways, the point is that I'm drunk and I'm still an obsessed lunatic that can't stop thinking about how cool it is that we're in the midst of the most important playoff positioning of our franchise. Pretty cool, I gotta say.

Ya know what else is cool? I got 11th row center court tickets for Lakers at Sonics tomorrow. Kobe better go off or I'm going to give him the evil eye.

I'm an actor. I will make a lot of money as an actor. Soon.

And yes, SkywalkerAC is one ****ed up monkey. You have no idea...




























but soon you will know me and all I am capable of.

Ever heard of the game?

The first rule is that every time you think about the game you lose, and have to say to fellow game players that you lost the game (thereby causing them to think about the game and also lose the game). You then start playing about the game again. Many people have never played the game before but they will.

So yeah, my name is Adam Creelman. I know you don't care but I'm going to impact your life anyway.

See you soon. Or rather, you'll see me.





(edit) Whoops, forgot to include some cartoon smileys to provide some levity

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kirk_2003