Raptors Notebook: Why getting into play-in tournament matters

TORONTO — The Toronto Raptors like their playoff chances — if they can get through the play-in tournament first — and they like their chances with a slate of four home games coming up, too. Scottie Barnes is down, but not out; Fred VanVleet is glad the Raptors are finally giving the Scotiabank Arena crowd something to get excited about; and Canada Basketball has a new look jersey to look forward to wearing in advance of a very important summer.

All in today’s notebook.

NBA on Sportsnet

Livestream more than 40 regular season Raptors games, marquee matchups from around the league, select NBA Playoffs games, the NBA Draft and summer league action on SN NOW.

CHOOSE PLAN

.acf-block-preview .br-snippet {
display: grid;
grid-template-columns: 200px 1fr;
gap: 20px;
width: 100%;
margin: 0 auto;
padding: 16px;
border: 1px solid #CECECE;
background-color: #FFF;
border-radius: 4px;
}
.acf-block-preview .br-snippet-info a {
text-decoration: none;
}
.acf-block-preview .br-snippet-info .br-snippet-title {
color: #343434;
font-family: ‘roboto’;
font-size: 20px;
font-weight: 600;
line-height: 22px;
margin-bottom: 10px;
top: -3px;
}
.acf-block-preview .br-snippet-info .br-snippet-body {
color: #343434;
font-family: ‘urw-din’;
font-size: 16px;
line-height: 20px;
margin-bottom: 12px;
}
.acf-block-preview .br-snippet-info .br-snippet-link-title {
display: inline-block;
font-family: ‘urw-din’;
font-size: 16px;
list-style-type: none;
width: auto;
}
.acf-block-preview .br-snippet-info .br-snippet-link-title:not(:last-child):after {
content: ‘ | ‘;
color: #343434;
}

Play-in for good reason, that’s what

More is better. More chances, more games, more experiences and then?

Who knows?

That’s how the Raptors are approaching the most critical homestand of their season. With 10 games to play Toronto is in ninth place, a half-game behind Atlanta — before the Hawks host last-place Detroit Tuesday night — and a half-game up on 10th-place Chicago. The Raptors are four-and-a-half games behind sixth-place Brooklyn and three-and-a-half games behind seventh-place Miami.

Teams that are seventh and eighth place at the end of the regular season get two chances to win one game to advance out of the play-in tournament and will play their do-or-die game at home, while teams that finish ninth or 10th have to win two games to advance, the second one on the road. Advancing out of the play-in tournament means a best-of-seven first-round series against the No. 1 or No. 2 seed in the East.

Toronto is ready and willing for any and all of it. They just want to be playing games after the regular season schedule ends on April 9 and the more the better.

“I look at it from this way: this team needs playoff experience, right?” said Raptors head coach Nick Nurse after practice at OVO Centre on Tuesday. “So getting in a (playoff) series is really what we’re after, so obviously (the sixth seed) is the goal. Anything close to six is better as well all know. (So) we just gotta keep playing them. We gotta keep playing them (but) we are gonna have to get something done here in these last 10 (games).”

The reward is a puncher’s chance against a top seed, but the Raptors — revitalized since the all-star break — don’t mind those odds.

“I know that playoff basketball experience is really valuable,” said Nurse. “…And I also would say that we feel that if we get in a playoff series that we are not afraid of anybody, and I think that we are a hard out. I think that we’ll put some defensive issues in front of people and things like that. So I think that I always say we need playoff experience but once you get in it obviously the goal is to figure out a way to get out of the series and keep advancing.”

.acf-block-preview .br-video-thumbnail::before {
content: “”;
position: absolute;
top: 45%;
left: 50%;
transform: translate3d(-50%, -50%, 0);
-moz-transform: translate3d(-50%, -50%, 0);
-ms-transform: translate3d(-50%, -50%, 0);
-o-transform: translate3d(-50%, -50%, 0);
-webkit-transform: translate3d(-50%, -50%, 0);
width: 20px;
height: 0px;
border-top: 14px solid transparent;
border-left: 22px solid #fff;
border-bottom: 14px solid transparent;
margin-left: 3px;
}

Scottie Barnes — it could be worse.

The Raptors’ second-year wing left early in Toronto’s loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on the road Sunday and was last seen walking down the tunnel at Fiserv Forum dejectedly after getting his left hand tangled up in a collision with Giannis Antetokounmpo. Nurse said on Tuesday that an MRI on Barnes’ wrist was “clear” (as were x-rays in Milwaukee on Sunday) which suggests that there is nothing torn or broken, but Barnes was kept out practice Tuesday and is still experiencing soreness. He’s considered “day-to-day” heading into the Pacers game on Wednesday. If he can’t play expect Gary Trent Jr. to return to the starting lineup.

No court like home

That the Raptors start their final push having won seven straight at Scotiabank Arena is not insignificant. Their home record has mirrored their season fortunes. They were 3-1 at home in October and 5-1 in November, but 7-10 in December and January when it became clear that some of their struggles weren’t just due to injuries or a slow start, but that changes were necessary. Toronto added Jakob Poeltl at the trade deadline and are 9-6 since making him a starter in his second game with the team, arresting a slide in which it seemed Toronto’s season was slipping away on them.

Playing better at home has been a big part of it. Toronto is 8-1 in February and March and feeling like homecourt is an advantage again. Sweeping four games from the Pacers, Pistons (Friday), Wizards (Sunday) and Heat (next Tuesday) will go a long way toward determining their play-in tournament fortunes, especially since the Raptors finish their schedule with a five-game road trip and a final game at home against the Bucks.

“It’s time for it, the crowd and the city will reflect how we play,” said Raptors point guard Fred VanVleet, who is averaging 19 points and nine assists per game since the all-star break with a True Shooting percentage of 57.2, compared with 19.7 points and 6.6 assists per game and 54.2 per cent True Shooting before the break. “When we play like (crap), the crowd’s shit, so, when we play our brand of basketball, when we got it going in there, when we got the right energy and spirit, just that winning atmosphere, we all could build on that.

“It’s a hard place to play when it’s going good.”

.acf-block-preview .br-video-thumbnail::before {
content: “”;
position: absolute;
top: 45%;
left: 50%;
transform: translate3d(-50%, -50%, 0);
-moz-transform: translate3d(-50%, -50%, 0);
-ms-transform: translate3d(-50%, -50%, 0);
-o-transform: translate3d(-50%, -50%, 0);
-webkit-transform: translate3d(-50%, -50%, 0);
width: 20px;
height: 0px;
border-top: 14px solid transparent;
border-left: 22px solid #fff;
border-bottom: 14px solid transparent;
margin-left: 3px;
}

New look for Canada Basketball

After practice Nurse and assistant coaches Nate Bjorkgren and Nate Mitchell — each assistants to Nurse in his role as Canadian men’s senior team head coach — headed over to Real Sports adjacent to Scotiabank Arena for the unveiling of SunLife as the men’s and women’s senior team’s new jersey sponsor. Also on hand were senior women’s head coach Victor Lapena and point guard Kia Nurse among other alumni from both programs. The deal with SunLife is for three years and extends the Toronto-based financial services company’s relationship with basketball into the summer months with the national team programs on top of their position as one of the most visible corporate sponsors of the Raptors.

The deal should help the men’s team as they head into the FIBA Basketball World Cup this summer and — hopefully — the 2024 Olympics in Paris and the women as they head straight into Olympic qualifying this summer at the AmeriCup as they try to advance to the Olympics for the fourth-straight time. Winning takes money and credit to Canada Basketball chief executive officer Michael Bartlett for securing a key corporate sponsor and to SunLife for recognizing the value of being deeply associated with basketball in Canada, something that has been long overdue in Canada’s corporate sector which is slowly recognizing that hockey is far from the only game in town.

From the Canada Basketball point of view, the question is always can the men get the players they need on board to challenge for a medal at the World Cup and at the Olympics next summer? That’s never been an issue on the women’s side where the year-in, year-out commitment has always been phenomenal, as exemplified when Kia Nurse made her competitive return from an ACL injury that had kept her out of the 2022 WNBA season playing for Canada at the Women’s World Cup in Australia last September.

Nailing down the moving parts on the men’s side has always been trickier. In an interesting quirk of the Raptors schedule, a good chunk of Canada’s ideal men’s roster will have passed through Toronto in the space of roughly two weeks, beginning with Jamal Murray and the Denver Nuggets last Tuesday, followed by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Lu Dort with the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday, Nickeil Alexander-Walker with the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday, Andrew Nembhard and Bennedict Mathurin with the Pacers on Wednesday and Cory Joseph and the Detroit Pistons on Friday.

“I know what the communication is (with players) and the positivity we get about people coming,” said Nick Nurse. “They’re committed. But I don’t think it does me or my staff any good to try to figure out exactly who (will be available) until it gets closer, and we see who shows up. Whenever we head down those paths (of who will be available) I’m the one who says, ‘let’s hope there’s a lot of really hard decisions to make.’”

More from Sportsnet

Raptors’ Barnes day-to-day with wrist injury

5 things: Raptors go cold in fourth against league-best Bucks, miss chance to crack .500 record

.acf-block-preview .br-related-links-wrapper {
display: grid;
grid-template-columns: repeat(2, 1fr);
gap: 20px;
}

.acf-block-preview .br-related-links-wrapper a {
pointer-events: none;
cursor: default;
text-decoration: none;
color: black;
}

For all the latest Sports News Click Here 

Read original article here