Toronto Making Playoff Push Interesting

The return of Chris Bosh was supposed to set things right for a team that had become passive in his absence. Yet in his comeback story against the lowly Philadelphia 76ers Bosh came out slow and, not surprisingly, the rest of his team followed accordingly in a 114-101 loss at the Air Canada Centre. Neither squad took over the game but the 76ers started just well enough and finished just strong enough to seal the deal and send the Raptors to a costly loss, one that kick-started their current three-game slide. The team is now just 3-7 in their last 10 contests and as a collective has shown decidedly less spark of late.

 

“I guess we felt we had an easy game,” said forward Antoine Wright following the loss against Philadelphia. “You can’t expect to win games just coming into them like that. We have to do a better job of getting our minds ready for the games.”

 

Reading between the lines one might conclude that an air of over-confidence may have gripped the team. When February began nearly the entire team saw it as a soft spot in the schedule. Their most recent loss to the Kings had all the makings of a sure win, before the squad unwound drastically in the third quarter after building a first half lead. It was a bad sign out of the halftime recharge and uninspired defense allowed the Kings easy buckets in transition. The result

 

“We have to do everything different,” said center Andrea Bargnani before leaving on the western journey. “Every single thing.”

 

In the midst of a four-game west coast road trip that takes them through California to face the Los Angeles Lakers, Sacramento Kings and Golden State Warriors and then into Portland to face the Trailblazers, the Toronto Raptors - at 10-21 on the road - will need to rediscover their edge. The have already lost the first two games of the swing - a heartbreaking, last second loss to the Lakers and a horrific stomping at the hands of the Kings. Take a look at the contenders for the fifth through eighth seeds and the Raptors’ timing for a lapse could not have been, well, more untimely. Easy? Focus? Uninspired? Change everything? Not things a team wants to hear (or admit) during the last quarter of their schedule with a playoff berth at stake.

 

The Charlotte Bobcats have won five straight games and have gone from ninth seed to sixth in the span of a week. The Milwaukee Bucks have also won five in a row to claim the fifth seed once thought to be a lock for Toronto.  The Miami Heat have dipped in and out of the postseason picture for the past two weeks but have now won two straight matches to place themselves back in the mix, leaving the Raptors hanging on to the eighth seed. While just 2.5 games separates all of the above-mentioned the ninth place Chicago Bulls, despite having lost seven straight games, are only two games behind the Raptors and the final playoff position. Expect the musical chairs to continue until the final day of the campaign, a scramble Raptors did not believe they would be a part of three weeks ago.

 

With two games remaining on their current tour - a date with the dandy Golden State Warriors and resilient Portland Trailblazers - and a follow-up mini home stand against the Atlanta Hawks and Oklahoma Thunder looming - the circumstances leave little room for error. Missed opportunities to create space in February and early March, particularly with the Bulls in a terrible slump, place them in a reality that demands a quick turnaround.

 

A case can be made for this team to slide either way.

 

The Raptors’ two big stars, Bosh and off-season addition Hedo Turkoglu, have been disappointing of late. In the three games since returning from a seven game, injury-induced absence Bosh is averaging just 16 points on 19 of 52 shooting from the floor. His rebounding numbers have also fallen to just eight per night and he has visted the charity stripe just nine times total. With Turkoglu continuing a season-long funk the supporting cast has been put through the grinder. Covering reasonably well for early-season injuries to forward Reggie Evans and, to a lesser extent, Wright seems to be catching up. Reserves Sonny Weems and Amir Johnson have been good but they cannot save this team. The slow progression of Turkoglu’s impact has also been costly. The pine crew have been unable to fill the holes as of late with their big names struggling, so much so that talk of a line up change has been whispered and could happen before the team returns to the ACC on Wednesday for their game versus the Hawks.