Everything Playoffs

[Demographic Shift]

Fragile Raps fans have to brace themselves for that one in the playoffs.

Expect the chant to keep going until June.....

[slaw]

Expect the chant to keep going until June.....

Hoping only to hear it 8 times: 16-0 baby.

Spurs were brutal last night. Had no answer for the Hornets. Love that the Nets ran the Celtics out of the gym, well, almost. They hung on bravely! Celts are scuffling.

[KeonClark]

Hoping only to hear it 8 times: 16-0 baby.

Spurs were brutal last night. Had no answer for the Hornets. Love that the Nets ran the Celtics out of the gym, well, almost. They hung on bravely! Celts are scuffling.

I'm officially eliminating the Celtics out of the race for 1st. Or 2nd. 3rd is the best they can hope for.

And no, I don't believe in jinxes

[Puffer]

I'm officially eliminating the Celtics out of the race for 1st. Or 2nd. 3rd is the best they can hope for.

And no, I don't believe in jinxes

Here we go. A classic experiment using the scientific method. Make observations (every time someone on the RR board says the Celtics will fail, they succeed). Come up with a theory (predicting failure for the Celtics causes them to succeed by virtue of the failure prediction jinxed the Raptors). Run an experiment (30 some games before the season's end, tell the Celtics they won't finishb1st or 2nd). Observe the result. This could settle the "jinx" theory once and for all. However, if the "jinx" theory is validated, it would seem the theory of reverse jinxes would be as well.

[slaw]

I'm officially eliminating the Celtics out of the race for 1st. Or 2nd. 3rd is the best they can hope for.

And no, I don't believe in jinxes

Too early. Some team in the middle of the pack always goes on a huge post all-star break run. Boston is a good candidate for that slot.

The positive for Toronto is that Boston, Indy, Milwaukee and Philly are all near the bottom in terms of strength of schedule which means that they all have much tougher remaining schedules than the Raps.

[KeonClark]

Too early. Some team in the middle of the pack always goes on a huge post all-star break run. Boston is a good candidate for that slot.

The positive for Toronto is that Boston, Indy, Milwaukee and Philly are all near the bottom in terms of strength of schedule which means that they all have much tougher remaining schedules than the Raps.

The Raptors have 37 games left. Lets assume they sputter a bit despite an easy schedule, and go 21-16. That would give them 54 wins. That would mean Boston would have to go 29-10 (to tie, 31-9 to get 55 wins), AND hope that everybody else in front of them also played tepid or luke warm down the stretch. As of right now, 538 projects Raptors at 60 wins, Bucks at 57. Those numbers are nearly impossible for Boston to reach

[Puffer]

The Raptors have 37 games left. Lets assume they sputter a bit despite an easy schedule, and go 21-16. That would give them 54 wins. That would mean Boston would have to go 29-10 (to tie, 31-9 to get 55 wins), AND hope that everybody else in front of them also played tepid or luke warm down the stretch. As of right now, 538 projects Raptors at 60 wins, Bucks at 57. Those numbers are nearly impossible for Boston to reach

If the Raptors just continue to win at their rate so far, they get 60 wins. That assumes they don't get better now that KL and KL have 37 games to get used to each other, and Kawhi to get further used to his teammates. It also ignores the impact an easier schedule (and presumably more rest days and fewer minutes) will have on Kyle, Ibaka as well as Kawhi, not to mention the bench regaining JV in 3 weeks and a rejuvenated Norman Powell.

Put me down for 61-62 wins, unless Nurse blows off a couple games by resting all the starters for 3 quarters.

[GOLDBLUM]

Too early. Some team in the middle of the pack always goes on a huge post all-star break run. Boston is a good candidate for that slot.

The positive for Toronto is that Boston, Indy, Milwaukee and Philly are all near the bottom in terms of strength of schedule which means that they all have much tougher remaining schedules than the Raps.

That's not actually the case, as I understand it.

We've got the easiest remaining schedule in the entire league, which is great. But Milwaukee's not too far behind with the 4th easiest overall. Boston and Indy are smack in the middle with the 14th & 15th most difficult schedules the rest of the way. Only Philly's really anywhere near the bottom, at 7th most difficult.

http://www.tankathon.com/remaining_schedule_strength

(As a side note, on desktop at least, if you follow that link it shows the icon of every team's most difficult remaining opponent. ... For all but the 3 western teams we've played twice, our logo leads the way, frequently twice in a row. Looks good.)

[golden]

Well, there it is. ESPN picks 'your Toronto Raptors' to win the East in a landslide. Respek.





http://www.espn.co.uk/nba/story/_/id...riors-vs-field

[DanH]

Well, there it is. ESPN picks 'your Toronto Raptors' to win the East in a landslide. Respek.





http://www.espn.co.uk/nba/story/_/id...riors-vs-field

Also have Pascal as leading for MIP, and Kawhi in the mix for MVP and DPOY.

[LJ2]

Goes to show, if you keep knocking they will eventually have to let you in.

[planetmars]

I don't see Kawhi and DPOY this year. I mean Kawhi has his moments that make you go wow.. but generally they like to give that award to the best defensive player on the best defensive team.

Raptors have the 9th best defense. That's good but not elite.

Pascal should definitely get MIP. That award typically goes to guys on the cusp of being perennial all-stars. And that's Siakam right now. Pretty crazy to see him become this good this quick.

[KeonClark]

Goes to show, if you keep knocking they will eventually have to let you in.

Of course, we still have to PLAY the games and fun January polls are about as meaningful as the poop I took this morning

[Nilanka]

Well, there it is. ESPN picks 'your Toronto Raptors' to win the East in a landslide. Respek.





http://www.espn.co.uk/nba/story/_/id...riors-vs-field

Waiting for the "but Toronto is unproven in the playoffs, too" rebuttals.

[slaw]

That's not actually the case, as I understand it.

We've got the easiest remaining schedule in the entire league, which is great. But Milwaukee's not too far behind with the 4th easiest overall. Boston and Indy are smack in the middle with the 14th & 15th most difficult schedules the rest of the way. Only Philly's really anywhere near the bottom, at 7th most difficult.

http://www.tankathon.com/remaining_schedule_strength

(As a side note, on desktop at least, if you follow that link it shows the icon of every team's most difficult remaining opponent. ... For all but the 3 western teams we've played twice, our logo leads the way, frequently twice in a row. Looks good.)

I think we need to be careful with that analysis on that site. Clicking on that link this morning, Indy is now 8th and Philly is 6th. Boston is 13th. I'm more looking at things like: who still has to go out west and road games, number of games left, etc. Even the Bucks are in a stretch right now where they play 10 of the next 14 on the road. It's not a murderer's row but it's hard to play that many games on the road over a short span.

Granted, it's not as scientific as a game-by-game statistical analysis and revisions but if you look at the schedules for the top-5 ECF teams, Toronto's is materially better than the other 4 in terms of travel, rest, etc.

EDIT: Sorry, I should add that it doesn't really matter either where a team's SOS is vis-à-vis the entire league, just compared to Toronto's.