Can the Toronto Raptors make a playoff push with 17 games let in the season? Currently, they are i ninth place in the eastern conference with 32 wins and 33 losses. If the season ended today, they would be in the play in tournament and would need to win two games to get to the playoffs. That would be a difficult task but possible. However, how can they improve their odds to get into the playoffs? Can they get a higher seed in the play in tournament or avoid it all together? What do they need to do?
Toronto Raptors Playoff Push – Tighten up the Defense
The Raptors need to tighten up their perimeter defense. Teams have been shooting over 50 percent on the Raptors the last few games. This was the case with the last game with the Wizards in which they shot 50.7 percent from the field and 58.3 percent from three. With Jakob Poeltl on the team, the Raptor perimeter players should stay on their man more. However, they still have close out too aggressively on their man and they still over help too much. Part of this can be attributed with getting use to Jakob Poeltl in the line up. Also, they need some more practice time with each other. Hopefully they can improve this fairly quickly.
Better Rotations and in Game Management By Nick Nurse
Part of the issue with this is that he is getting use to the next players on the roster but sometimes I am left scratching my head on some of his decision making. One example is the previous game against the Wizards where Nurse only played Jakob Poeltl 10 minutes in the first half. If made no sense as the Wizards dominated the Raptors with their size and took control of the game. Poeltl did play most of the second half, but the damage was done and the Raptors could not recover. In the last game, Pascal Siakam was struggling in the fourth quarter. With a few minutes left, Nick Nurse does not sub out Siakam but instead subs out Poeltl and the Raptors are forced to overtime. Personally, I would have liked Siakam subbed out as he was struggling. I know that might be a bad look but you are scrapping to make the playoffs. If a player is not playing well, then take them off the court and put someone else in. That decision almost cost the Raptors the game. Nick Nurse needs to improve his decision making and adjustments.
Conclusion
If the Raptors make these two adjustments, they should move up the standings. However, getting to six place will be extremely difficult as they are currently 4.5 games behind Brooklyn. However, they are only two games behind the Miami Heat for seventh place. This is attainable. If they can play over 500 basketball the rest of the way, this can be attainable. You are still in the play in tournament, but you have two chances to win one game and both games will be at home. If you do this, there is a high probability that the Toronto Raptors will be in the playoffs this year. Go Raptors Go!
You Might Like: Nike Zoom Freak 3 Mens’ ‘Basketball Trainers
This page contains affiliate ads in which we might make a small commission at no extra cost to you!