Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports
Raptors Hold Off Wizards All But Clinching Spot in Play-In Tournament
It wasn’t all that long ago that the Toronto Raptors spurned the play-in tournament, opting instead for the so-called “Tampa tank,” as Raptors president and vice-chairman Masai Ujiri put it.
“Play-in for what?” he asked rhetorically.
Oh, how times have changed. Nearly two years after the now-famous question, Toronto has all but officially clinched a spot in the play-in tournament thanks to a 114-104 victory over the Washington Wizards on Sunday night.
At this point, there’s not much of a fight anymore. Washington has thrown in the towel on the season, opting instead to rest Bradley Beal and Kyle Kuzma down the stretch and turn their attention toward the NBA lottery.
They didn’t make it easy on Toronto, though, at least not in the third quarter. After the Raptors climbed ahead 21 points in the first half, the Wizards flipped the script on Toronto, scoring 39 points in the third, nailing eight three-pointers, and eventually pulling to within one on a Johnny Davis corner three.
"Any combination of not playing hard and taking bad shots is usually not good for the team," said Fred VanVleet who had 28 points and seven assists. "So bad combo there, but we've got to eliminate those lapses. We've had less and less of them over the course of the last couple of weeks, but picked a bad time to come out flat and they came out hit a couple of threes and that's the NBA now."
VanVleet gave Toronto a little breathing room late in the third, scoring seven straight Raptors points to end the third. Jeff Dowtin Jr. opened the fourth with a three-pointer after corralling a high kick-out pass from Scottie Barnes and a Barnes and-1 put Toronto back up 11 from which the Raptors never looked back.
O.G. Anunoby almost single-handedly outscored the Wizards in the first quarter, dropping a career-high 18 in the frame, en route to a game-high 29-point performance. He nailed a pair of off-the-dribble buckets including a pull-up three and an impressive fadeaway jumper after navigating the pick-and-roll with Christian Koloko. He stuck Toronto to an 18-point lead in the fourth quarter with a layup as the Raptors ran away with the game late.
Now all that’s left to fight for is seeding. The sixth seed is almost certainly out of reach for the Raptors who sit three games back of the Brooklyn Nets. Brooklyn has the tiebreaker over the Raptors should it come to that.
The Miami Heat are going to be tough to catch too, also three games up on the Raptors in the seventh seed. Toronto has a 2-1 edge over the Heat in the season series with one to go but the remaining strength of schedule strongly favors Miami.
Ultimately, this season may come down to Toronto’s ability to catch the Atlanta Hawks, now tied with the Raptors, albeit with the tiebreaker in hand. Catching Atlanta would allow the Raptors to avoid a pair of do-or-die play-in games and instead face a win-one-of-two situation. Should Toronto leapfrog Atlanta, there’s a real chance the Raptors open the play-in tournament with a winnable game in Brooklyn.
There is, however, still the disaster scenario in which the Raptors finish the season below the Chicago Bulls, now just a half-game back of Toronto with a win of their own Sunday. In that scenario, the Raptors would fall to 10th and face the prospect of needing to win two road games just for a first-round playoff date with the No. 1-seeded Milwaukee Bucks.
The play-in tournament now in its fourth season hasn't been for everyone. Ujiri scoffed at it when Toronto first appeared poised for a play-in berth back in Tampa. Even VanVleet, a self-proclaimed basketball purist, admitted Sunday he's not the biggest fan of the change.
"But we're in it," VanVleet added. "So we've got to take advantage of it this year."
Scottie Barnes Returns With a Bang
Scottie Barnes looked back to normal, albeit with some tape on his injured left wrist Sunday. He opened the night with a spectacular 360 slam in transition after picking off a bad pass from former Raptors guard Delon Wright.
Will Barton Update
Will Barton appeared to injure himself scoring a transition layup in the first quarter and promptly hobbled to the locker room. He was ruled out with a left ankle sprain.
Up Next: Miami Heat
Toronto will welcome Kyle Lowry and the Miami Heat to town Tuesday evening for a 7:30 p.m. ET.
