Raptors best not fall asleep, in pursuit of a playoff position
The battle for the final 4 playoff spots in the Eastern Conference is shaping up as a doozy with the current standings looking like this:
|
2009-2010 Eastern Conference Regular Season Standings |
||||||||||
|
TEAM |
W |
L |
PCT |
GB |
CONF |
DIV |
HOME |
ROAD |
L 10 |
STREAK |
|
47 |
14 |
0.770 |
0.0 |
27-8 |
6-1 |
26-4 |
21-10 |
7-3 |
W 4 |
|
|
41 |
20 |
0.672 |
6.0 |
29-11 |
7-4 |
23-6 |
18-14 |
7-3 |
W 2 |
|
|
38 |
21 |
0.644 |
8.0 |
20-12 |
4-6 |
23-7 |
15-14 |
6-4 |
W 2 |
|
|
36 |
21 |
0.632 |
9.0 |
23-13 |
10-2 |
16-11 |
20-10 |
5-5 |
L 2 |
|
|
31 |
28 |
0.525 |
15.0 |
22-17 |
7-3 |
21-9 |
10-19 |
5-5 |
L 4 |
|
|
31 |
29 |
0.517 |
15.5 |
19-18 |
8-4 |
19-10 |
12-19 |
6-4 |
L 2 |
|
|
30 |
29 |
0.508 |
16.0 |
21-15 |
7-5 |
18-9 |
12-20 |
7-3 |
L 1 |
|
|
29 |
31 |
0.483 |
17.5 |
18-17 |
7-5 |
14-14 |
15-17 |
5-5 |
L 4 |
|
|
28 |
30 |
0.483 |
17.5 |
17-18 |
5-4 |
20-8 |
8-22 |
4-6 |
L 1 |
|
Although the Raptors’ head coach, Jay Triano, neglected to mention the Miami Heat in his post-game comments last night …
————————–
Shorthanded Raptors lurch to another defeat
With Jose Calderon sitting out due to a cut on his right elbow, Hedo Turkoglu taking the second half off with a bad ankle and with Chris Bosh back home in Toronto nursing his sore left ankle, the Raptors were drilled 116-92 by the Rockets here Monday in a game that evoked memories of the horrific defence of the first six weeks of the season.
And coach Jay Triano sounded some warning signs after the loss.
“I don’t know what you mean about playoffs. I would say that we’re not even close to being in the playoffs yet,” he said when the topic of the post-season was broached.
“We’re going to be in a fight until the last day in the schedule. Milwaukee’s playing well, Chicago’s playing well, Charlotte’s playing well. We’re going to be in a fight for a playoff spot right down to the very end.”
————————–
it could well be the case that:
1. Any of these 5 teams could be the 1 to miss out on this year’s playoffs …
Given the “relative strength” of the current rosters for these teams:
|
Pos |
TORONTO 31-28/.525 5TH |
RK |
CHICAGO 31-29/.517 6TH |
RK |
MILWAUKEE 30-29/.508 7TH |
RK |
MIAMI 29-31/.483 8TH |
RK |
CHARLOTTE 28-30/.483 9TH |
RK |
||
|
|
COACH |
|
||||||||||
|
|
Triano |
5 |
Del Negro |
4 |
Skiles |
2 |
Spoelstra |
3 |
Brown |
1 |
||
|
SUB-TOTAL |
5 |
|
4 |
|
2 |
|
3 |
|
1 |
|||
|
|
STARTERS |
|
||||||||||
|
PG |
Jack |
2 |
Rose |
1 |
Jennings |
4 |
Alston |
5 |
Felton |
3 |
||
|
OG |
DeRozan |
5 |
Hinrich |
3 |
Delfino |
4 |
Wade |
1 |
Jackson |
2 |
||
|
SF |
Turkoglu |
3 |
Deng |
2 |
Salmons |
4 |
Richardson |
5 |
Wallace |
1 |
||
|
PF |
Bosh |
1 |
Gibson |
5 |
LRMAM |
3 |
Beasley |
4 |
Diaw |
2 |
||
|
C |
Bargnani |
3 |
Noah |
2 |
Bogut |
1 |
O’Neal |
4 |
Chandler |
5 |
||
|
SUB-TOTAL |
14 |
|
13 |
|
16 |
|
19 |
|
13 |
|||
|
|
KEY SUBS |
|
||||||||||
|
PG |
Calderon |
1 |
Brown |
4 |
Ridnour |
5 |
Chalmers |
3 |
Augustin |
2 |
||
|
OG |
Weems |
3 |
Murray |
1 |
Bell |
2 |
Cook |
4 |
Graham |
5 |
||
|
SF |
Wright |
4 |
Johnson |
5 |
Stackhouse |
1 |
Wright |
2 |
Brown |
3 |
||
|
PF |
Johnson |
5 |
Warrick |
4 |
Ilyasova |
3 |
Haslem |
1 |
Thomas |
2 |
||
|
C |
Nesterovic |
4 |
Miller |
1 |
Thomas |
3 |
Anthony |
5 |
Mohammed |
2 |
||
|
SUB-TOTAL |
17 |
|
15 |
|
14 |
|
15 |
|
14 |
|||
|
|
RESERVES |
|
||||||||||
|
G |
Belinelli |
2 |
Law |
4 |
Ivey |
5 |
Arroyo |
1 |
Henderson |
3 |
||
|
F/C |
Evans |
3 |
James |
5 |
Gadzuric |
4 |
Magloire |
2 |
Diop |
1 |
||
|
SUB-TOTAL |
5 |
|
9 |
|
9 |
|
3 |
|
4 |
|||
|
TOTAL |
41 |
|
41 |
|
41 |
|
40 |
|
32 |
|||
|
|
EXTRAS/OUT |
|
||||||||||
|
|
Banks |
5 |
Pargo |
3 |
Redd |
1 |
Jones |
2 |
Ratliff |
4 |
||
|
|
O’Bryant |
4 |
Hunter |
1 |
Brezec |
2 |
Diawara |
3 |
Ajinca |
5 |
||
|
|
|
|
Alexander |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
LEGEND: Pos – Position; RK – Ranking. |
||||||||||||
and,
2. Charlotte and Miami could be the 2 teams from this group with the best chances of reaching the post-season this season …
Given the remaining games to be played:
Can Raptors retain Chris Bosh with another 1st Round Exit?
|
Place |
No. 5 |
No. 6 |
No. 7 |
No. 8 |
No. 9 |
|
Team |
TOR |
CHI |
MIL |
MIA |
CHA |
|
W-L |
31-28 |
31-29 |
30-29 |
29-31 |
28-30 |
|
% |
.525 |
.517 |
.508 |
.483 |
.483 |
|
G 59 |
|
|
|
|
@ BOS,L |
|
G 60 |
vs NYK,W |
|
vs WAS,W |
|
vs LAL,L |
|
G 61 |
vs PHI,W |
vs MEM,W |
@ WAS,L |
vs GSW,W |
vs GSW,W |
|
G 62 |
@ LAL,L |
vs DAL,W |
vs CLE,L |
vs LAL,L |
vs MIA,W |
|
G 63 |
@ SAC,L |
vs UTA,W |
vs BOS,L |
vs ATL,W |
@ PHI,L |
|
G 64 |
@ GSW,W |
@ ORL,L |
vs UTA,W |
@ CHA,L |
vs LAC,W |
|
G 65 |
@ POR,L |
@ MIA,L |
vs IND,W |
vs LAC,W |
@ ORL,L |
|
G 66 |
vs ATL,W |
@ MEM,L |
@ LAC,L |
vs CHI,W |
@ IND,L |
|
G 67 |
vs OKC,W |
@ DAL,L |
@ SAC,L |
vs PHI,W |
vs OKC,W |
|
G 68 |
@ NJN,W |
vs CLE,L |
@ DEN,L |
vs SAS,W |
@ ATL,L |
|
G 69 |
@ MIN,W |
@ PHI,L |
vs ATL,W |
vs ORL,L |
@ MIA,L |
|
G 70 |
vs UTA,L |
vs HOU,W |
vs PHI,L |
vs CHA,W |
@ WAS,W |
|
G 71 |
vs DEN,L |
vs MIA,W |
vs MIA,W |
@ NJN,W |
vs MIN,W |
|
G 72 |
@ MIA,L |
vs NJN,W |
vs MEM,W |
@ CHI,L |
vs WAS,W |
|
G 73 |
@ CHA,L |
@ DET,W |
vs LAC,W |
@ MIL,L |
vs TOR,W |
|
G 74 |
vs LAC,W |
vs PHO,L |
@ CLE,L |
vs TOR,W |
vs PHI,W |
|
G 75 |
@ PHI,L |
@ WAS,L |
@ CHA,L |
@ DET,L |
vs MIL,W |
|
G 76 |
vs GSW,W |
vs CHA,W |
vs PHO,L |
@ IND,L |
@ CHI,L |
|
G 77 |
@ CLE,L |
vs MIL,W |
@ CHI,L |
@ MIN,W |
vs ATL,W |
|
G 78 |
vs BOS,L |
vs CLE,L |
vs NJN,W |
vs PHI,W |
@ NOH,L |
|
G 79 |
@ ATL,L |
@ NJN,W |
@ PHI,L |
vs DET,W |
@ HOU,W |
|
G 80 |
vs CHI,W |
@ TOR,L |
vs BOS,L |
@ NYK,W |
vs DET,W |
|
G 81 |
@ DET,L |
vs BOS,L |
vs ATL,W |
@ PHI,L |
@ NJN,W |
|
G 82 |
vs NYK,W |
@ CHA,L |
@ BOS,L |
vs NJN,W |
vs CHI,W |
|
W-L |
11-12 |
10-12 |
9-14 |
14-8 |
15-9 |
|
% |
.478 |
.455 |
.391 |
.636 |
.625 |
|
TOT |
42-40 |
41-41 |
39-43 |
43-39 |
43-39 |
|
% |
.512 |
.500 |
.476 |
.524 |
.524 |
|
Place |
7th |
8th |
9th |
6th |
5th |
The fact is …
* The NBA season is an 82-game marathon.
* The way a team starts out isn’t necessarily the same way it will finish.
* Neither is the way in which a team performs during a specific stretch of games … e.g. 10, 15, 20, etc. … in the middle of the season necessarily indicative of the way it will eventually finish that year.
————————–
There’s a solid possibility that the 8th position in the Eastern Conference playoffs will only be decided during the final few games of the regular season.
Tags: Charlotte Bobcats, Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat, Milwaukee Bucks, Toronto Raptors