Game-Day Preview - Raptors vs. Pistons

Raptors are locked into 3rd seed. Best they can do is tie Chicago and Bulls have tie-braker

From Yahoo!

"The Raptors will be the No. 3 seed unless they win twice, the Bulls lose and the Cavaliers split (and all finish 49-33). In that case, the Raptors would be the No. 2 seed by winning a three-way tie based on the best head-to-head record against the Bulls and Cavaliers (5-3 to 4-4 to 3-5; the Raptors won three of four against the Cavaliers). The Bulls would be the No. 3 seed and the Cavaliers the No. 5."

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AguHFDiNZ1awjtJ92sOXaCF40bYF?slug=ys-playoffscenarios&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

Looks like there's an outside chance at the Raps getting the #2 seed....very remote, though.

only problem is that the Raptors were actually 1 and 3 against Cleveland this year

when they say sitting, do they mean dnp-cd or just not starting? I think we should play to win. we might get a chance at second seed, although the cavs will almost surely win both their games. If we do have a crack at second, it will be because nj has increased their chances of sixth by beating the bulls.

The nets are playing well and the wiz sucking, I think we should be doing everything we can to follow the path of least resistance. Although, that said the magic could still grab seventh.

Mike Ulmer has a new retarded blog posting on Raptors.com (http://www.nba.com/raptors/news/ulmer.html) -- unsurprising since he was a Sun columnist. It appears he hasn't watched Raptors vs. Nets games this season.

Ulmer writes, if the Raps do meet the Nets, NOT to boo Wince because this would provide him with mental ammunition.

I can't imagine how 20,000 rabid fans cheering "Carter Sucks" would be a negative -- especially against THIS year's Raptor team.

Aren't the first signs of getting rattled means one misses one's FGs and FTs and makes mental miscues like accumulating TOs? In their two HOME meetings (both of which I attended): the first one, on December 15th, Wince was 4-17 from the field and 4-8 from the line with 3 TOs; the second one, on February 14th, Wince was 5-15 from the field and 4-7 from the line, with 4 TOs.

The Raps have 4 first round games with home court. I don't care if it goes a full 7 and they get crushed by a rested Cavs or Bulls team in Round #2; the pleasure of giving Wince verbal beat downs in up-to-4 home playoff games would be priceless. Let the Raps aim for the Eastern Conference finals in 2007-2008.

LETS GO NETS

I am a hard core Raps fan. But I hope they get the Nets and not the Wiz. I would prefer the Raps get a test in the first round than breeze thru and then have to face a hugely tougher test in the second round. In other words they need to work up to the second round (Cavs/Heat).

And in the unlikely scenario that they loose to the Nets, then the would have no place in the second round in the first place.

Finally, yes the Nets are on a roll. But against useless teams, like the Wiz, Knicks, Pacers, etc. The last game they played against anyone respectable (Cavs) they got BLOWN OUT.

Toronto will take NJ in 5.

RE: Booing Vince

If we meet the Nets in the first round (or any round) I better be able to hear the booing here in Vancouver or I will be very dissapointed.

Fans booing players is not just part of the game, it's an integral part of the game.

"Betrayal, the one unforgivable sin" - Hagath

When Vince let his ego run amok (My mom doesn't like Charles Oakley, sniff), when he made the Vince face, put a hand to his back and failed to get off the bench for the 4th qtr of a close game, when he said 'I ain't gonna dunk no more', when Vince demanded a trade and ragged the team on his way out - well, he made his costume - and it says 'Villain'.

Am I worried that booing him will motivate him? Hardly. He seems to get motivated (and de-motivated) for no particular reason at all. I fully expect that if the Raptors can take an early lead in these games the Nets will fold like cheap road maps.

MoPete with a start tonite is interviewing for a job with the Pistons next year as a FA ?? What do you think ?? Expect a big game ??

Just to clarify, as Florida Jo and sc pointed out, the Raps are locked into 3rd. Axl and Geert Hammink, you can’t believe everything you read, especially on yahoo. The Raps can not reach 2nd as the best they can do is tie Chicago who owns the tie breaker. If there is a three way tie with Cleveland, Than Cleveland will win the tie breaker, not the Raps. In fact, this is the only way Cleveland ends up in 2nd with the same record as Chicago as Chicago owns that tie breaker as well.

Washington is the only team that Raptor fans should be hoping for. Forget the personal stuff, this isn’t about showing Vince, that’s giving him too much respect. I couldn’t care less about Vince. What’s most important is giving us the best chance to succeed, and that’s the Bullets, I mean the Wizards. I’m not worried about the Nets and I’m sure we can beat them in about 5, but Washington will be easier and allow us to get our rotation back in order with Bargnani back. A closer matchup will make it more difficult to integrate the pieces back into place.

Washing, not NJ is in the driver seat as they control their own destiny. Win both games and they are 6th. Win one of two and NJ gets blown out by Chicago, they still own 6th. I think this is the likely scenario. I’m not holding out hope for a Washington win tonight against Orlando, but the game against Indian is promising. The Pacers have no interest in basketball anymore, have been playing terribly and rumour is O’Neal is done for the year. This is a winnable game for them. NJ hasn’t won any quality games since the dinosaurs roamed the earth (pun intended) and the game against Chicago will be determined tonight in Milwaukee. Should Cleveland beat the Bucks tonight, they keep the pressure on Chicago to win or risk finishing in 5th. If Cleveland losses tonight, Chicago’s season is over and I expect their starts to sit in NJ which will open the door for a Nets win. To summarize, if Cleveland wins tonight, we face the Wizards, if the Bucks pull it out, bring on the Nets.

Well said, Erezona, you've summed up the possibilities very well.

To further clarify, NBA playoff brackets are fixed - i.e. as the #3 team, if the Raptors get past the first round they meet the 2/7 winner. Neither 2 nor 7 is set, but we wouldn't meet the #4 Heat in the second round regardless.

I'll echo what some others have said - yes it would be sweet to knock Vince out, but in the gruelling playoff schedule less resistance is better. So I'm still hoping to see the Wizards hang on, but not going to get too worked up about it.

thanks, erezona. I didn't think to check if we had truly won the cleveland series or not, but I see we lost 3 0f 4. I wish some reputable site would do a write-up like yahoo did, it's fun to speculate. Now I'd just like to see chicago and washington win their games.

Slight clarification. Replace the Milwaukee Bucks in my post with the Philadelphia 76ers. Cleveland plays in Phi tonight and against Mil tomorrow.

Zona - Great info, thanks for posting that. I totally agree too...I think we could take the Nets as I discussed this morning, but I'd rather the team gets its legs and some experience in beating up on Washington. Unfortunately after seeing the Wizards play this past weekend I'm not convinced they could beat the Fort Worth Flyers right now (who incidentally open up the NBDL playoffs tonight against the Sioux Falls Skyforce.)

In any event I'll be watching the Raps/Pistons game before heading to see Nas in concert but will be very curious to see the scoreboards when I come home. Philly could give the Cavs a surprising test and as for Mo Pete's audition, I still think he could be a big part of this team's playoff run. However, he needs to worry less about hitting 3's and more about making those little "Mo Pete" plays of last year...

I can't believe that no one has mentioned this yet.

That MoPete's miracle 3 at the end of regulation against the Wiz probably cost them an easy 1st round match-up.

Just sayin'............

Good post Erezona. I also think that the Wiz has a fighting chance against the Pacers. Funny thing is, as much as the Raps long for a match-up with the Wiz, the WIZ WOULD LUV PLAYING THE RAPS. Its all over their msg boards, they think they have a better shot for the 2nd round only if they play Toronto. I think you will see maximum effort on their part to hold off NJ.

And I am loving Toronto being cast as the under-dog in any matchup.

I know this is all moot, but I don't think you would use a three-way tie breaker in this situation. You would first determine who won the division between the Bulls and Cavs and then the winner would have a tie breaker with the Raptors. Otherwise, you could, say, have the Bulls winning the division but having a lower seed than the Cavs based on a three way tie-breaker. That doesn't make any sense!

Anyway, fun to speculate...

you're going to go see mr. street dreams??? nice. enjoy that concert.

and like I've said before, bring on the nets and let's put this vince thing to rest with a nice whoopin' in the first round. it's time to put that era to bed, and I think that would do the trick nicely.

Interesting point, Mazel Tov, re: the Wiz/Mo Pete miracle shot. But who could've predicted the Raps would win 7 of their next 8 and the Heat would stumble against Boston and Charlotte (twice!)

Fact is, the Raps facing the Nets with homecourt is far better than the Bulls or the LeBrons on the road, if the Raps fell to 4th place.

Mike,

Detroit has locked up the central division so Chicago and Cleveland are in the Unfortunate position of being in by far the toughest division in the East. And thanks to the the Denver rule implemented this year, Wins and Loses trump division titles in the top 3 spots.

In regards to the potential matchup, Bring on NJ or Wash. Can anyone confirm the NBA playoff format for home and away games...I get confused every year. 2-3-2?? This year I'm going to write it down for future reference.

scrubzero, I was curious too and looked it up. It appears the first three rounds are 2-2-1-1-1 and only the finals are 2-3-2 (http://www.betinf.com/nba_playoffs.htm).

Another reason why homecourt is so huge because Games 1-2, 5 (if necessary) and 7 (if necessary) will be at the ACC, Games 5 and 7 are usually the most critical in a playoff.

Mike, NBA.com outlines the tie breaking procedures (http://www.nba.com/statistics/playoff_picture.html)

"b. More Than Two Teams Tied
(1) Better winning percentage in all games among the tied teams.)

Just to give this dead horse one more hit, the espn site words things differently and seems to say different:

Three-Team Tiebreaker
1. Best head-to-head winning percentage among all teams tied
2. Highest winning percentage within division (if teams are in the same division)
3. Highest winning percentage in conference games
4. Highest winning percentage against playoff teams in own conference
5. Highest point differential between points scored and points allowed

Axl, I believe that your number 1 and my number 1 say the same thing. The best winning percentage in the 8 games each of the three teams played against each other.

Toronto is 3-5 (CHI 2-2 & CLE 1-3)
CHI is 4-4 (TOR 2-2 & CLE 2-2)
CLE is 5-3 (CHI 2-2 & TOR 3-1)

Cleveland wins.