STILL NO RESPECT FOR THE CHAMPS
Few think Raptors can repeat title run despite them being hottest team in NBA
Somehow, the odds of the Raptors repeating as NBA champs remain at 10-1 with real playoff basketball less than a week away.
That’s a slight improvement over where the Raptors were, but they remain behind the Los Angeles Lakers, the Los Angeles Clippers and the Milwaukee Bucks as favourites to hoist the Larry O’brien Trophy.
Currently, the Lakers are working Dion Waiters and J.R. Smith into their rotation after losing both Avery Bradley and Rajon Rondo. Lebron James has been slowed by a hamstring issue and the team has a losing record since arriving in Orlando at 3-4.
The Clippers’ issues have been more self-inflicted, although there’s been some bad timing and luck there, as well.
Super sub Lou Williams made a side trip to a famous chicken wing joint that happens to double as a strip joint and it cost him a 10-day quarantine. Both Pat Beverley and Montrezl Harrell missed time as they had to quarantine after leaving the bubble for family issues.
It meant the Clippers were rarely at full strength during the seeding games, going 3-3.
Milwaukee, meanwhile, is in a bit of a tailspin. The Bucks have won just two of six games in Orlando and are looking rather unlike the team that dominated the pre-pandemic portion of the schedule.
All the Raptors have done in Orlando is go a solid 5-1. Since the middle of January, the Raptors’ record is 26-5, five full games better than any other team in the NBA.
Still, when talk turns to potential NBA finalists, Toronto isn’t a hot topic.
Taking much from Monday’s win over the Bucks likely isn’t a good idea. Milwaukee superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo didn’t play and the Bucks looked barely interested.
Raptors head coach Nick Nurse said as much post-game.
But taken as a whole, the Raptors can realistically believe they head into the playoffs in better shape than any other team.
The Raptors have long believed they’re a tough team to beat, no matter who they’re playing. Nurse still wants his troops to find a little better offensive rhythm, and even as good as the defence has been most nights in the bubble, he would like to see things get a little crisper on that end, too.
But while their most feared opponents deal with injury issues and absence issues and cohesiveness issues, Nurse’s biggest issue seems to be finding minutes for his rotation players.
Through the successful playoff run a year ago, Nurse went with primarily an eight-man rotation — although there were games he stuck to just seven.
Even with Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green gone, Nurse still finds himself with more realistic options for minutes than he has minutes to spread around.
After a starting five of Kyle Lowry, Fred Vanvleet, OG Anunoby, Pascal Siakam and Marc Gasol, Nurse still has Serge Ibaka, Norm Powell and Rondae Hollis-jefferson coming off the bench.
Beyond those eight, he has Terence Davis, who played well beyond his rookie status this year, as well as Chris Boucher and Matt Thomas, who were the talk of the bubble after their performances against the Bucks on Monday.
Nurse has numbers and he has versatility, and after Monday’s game, was sounding sort of put on the spot when the talk turned to keeping all those options happy with minutes.
“The rotation stays at seven, eight,” Nurse said after about the fourth question about how good his outside the rotation guys played on Monday. “It’s great they played well and we can use these guys as sparks here and there, and you know my theory: If I throw you in a game and you start playing well, you’re three-minute stint could turn into an 18-minute stint. We just want to keep these guys confident, so maybe they’re able to do that a couple of times in a playoff series.”
In terms of health, the Raptors have just one issue. Pat Mccaw has a benign mass on the back of his left knee and was forced to leave the bubble to receive treatment for it.
And really, when your biggest issue is trying to explain to the media why the ninth and 10th best guys on your team won’t get a lot of playing time, it’s a pretty good issue to have.