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Since the 6-7-8 spots in the East are up for grabs and the Raps are on a roll, at this point the playoffs are a distinct possibility. Of course the Raps would almost certainly get hammered by the top teams, but which team would you say the Raps technically have the best chance against? (ie. which do the have a 99% chance of losing instead of 99.9999% 
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My vote goes to ORL. Raps have played them tough over the past few years and have actually beat them pretty regularly. Cant shut down Dwight but Reggie is the perfect guy to make him at least work, Plus you got AJ/Dorsey/Davis to throw at him too. Nelson has had big games but he does not strike fear into anyone. On the flip side, though if DD or Weems ever become close to the player VC was, it would be a success - at this point its like watching two hungry young pit bulls attack an old out of shape guard dog. They probably enjoy going up against and getting the edge on one of their idols growing up. Also ORL doesn't have anything for a guy like Barbosa (reddick? nelson?). Lastly, if Bargs ever figured out to exploit his matchup with Lewis better, it would seriously be trouble for ORL.
As for the other two teams...
BOS - just replacing bosh with Reggie and the YGZ at least ensures the Raps arnt going to be bullied of the court anymore. But the biggest problem is Rondo. He is exactly the type of PG that kills the Raps - blows by Jose, and Bargs' bad rotations/rim protection make it worse. He is known for getting 15pts-10ast type games, but against the Raps he'll get 25 and 15 and just dominate all around. Add in BOS experience and the fact that KG can just eliminate Bargs. (BTW if this series ever happens I wouldn't put it past Triano to try out some new defensive scheme involving something like Weems on Rondo, and more Bayless instead of Jose)
MIA - Raps simply cant win because DD\Weems would have to basically outplay James\Wade 4 out of 7 games, which is not possible. You can talk about other team factors, bosh vs Bargs etc, but that is what the series would boil down to. I give respect to the YGZ cause at least they will give them a game (unlike historically the Raps would trot out Parker/Moon/Kapono out there). But I actually think this is the worst matchup for the Raps, maybe in the whole league. I expect what happened the previous MIA game to repeat itself 4 times - a respectable 4 game sweep.
)My vote goes to ORL. Raps have played them tough over the past few years and have actually beat them pretty regularly. Cant shut down Dwight but Reggie is the perfect guy to make him at least work, Plus you got AJ/Dorsey/Davis to throw at him too. Nelson has had big games but he does not strike fear into anyone. On the flip side, though if DD or Weems ever become close to the player VC was, it would be a success - at this point its like watching two hungry young pit bulls attack an old out of shape guard dog. They probably enjoy going up against and getting the edge on one of their idols growing up. Also ORL doesn't have anything for a guy like Barbosa (reddick? nelson?). Lastly, if Bargs ever figured out to exploit his matchup with Lewis better, it would seriously be trouble for ORL.
As for the other two teams...
BOS - just replacing bosh with Reggie and the YGZ at least ensures the Raps arnt going to be bullied of the court anymore. But the biggest problem is Rondo. He is exactly the type of PG that kills the Raps - blows by Jose, and Bargs' bad rotations/rim protection make it worse. He is known for getting 15pts-10ast type games, but against the Raps he'll get 25 and 15 and just dominate all around. Add in BOS experience and the fact that KG can just eliminate Bargs. (BTW if this series ever happens I wouldn't put it past Triano to try out some new defensive scheme involving something like Weems on Rondo, and more Bayless instead of Jose)
MIA - Raps simply cant win because DD\Weems would have to basically outplay James\Wade 4 out of 7 games, which is not possible. You can talk about other team factors, bosh vs Bargs etc, but that is what the series would boil down to. I give respect to the YGZ cause at least they will give them a game (unlike historically the Raps would trot out Parker/Moon/Kapono out there). But I actually think this is the worst matchup for the Raps, maybe in the whole league. I expect what happened the previous MIA game to repeat itself 4 times - a respectable 4 game sweep.
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