7
Good morning, how does it feel to be in seventh place?
That's where the Toronto Raptors find themselves, as they continue to fade and the Wizards and 76ers continue to grind.
There has been a sense of complacency around this team for much of the season. Some of it was early season optimism. For the record I still think that this group, operating at close to optimum efficiency, was good for 50 wins this season.
But even as injuries and other issues have made that mark unattainable there was a sense that the Raptors would comfortably make the playoffs and make some noise in the first round, depending on their match-up.
The fifth seed seemed their worst case.
It still might happen, but are the Raptors justified in expecting anything better than the seventh seed and a first-round match-up with the Detroit Pistons?
Consider Washington, who is now a game-and-a-half ahead of Toronto and in the fifth spot. They've held their own without Gilbert Arenas all season and while missing Caron Butler for 16 games.
While the return of Arenas is still up in the air, Butler is back and rounding into form. Consider this detail from Ivan Carter's story in the Washington Post:
“Sunday's victory improved the team to 20-12 with a starting lineup of Jamison, Butler, DeShawn Stevenson, Antonio Daniels and Brendan Haywood.
"It is [the best the team has played] because that was when we had Caron was healthy, we had our forwards on the floor, we had good, balanced scoring, we had good rebounding with Antawn and Caron and good assist-making with our guards," Jordan said. "So yeah, that's where we are right now. We've got that toughness that we missed from Caron. We missed him dearly. It's good to have him back. It took a couple of games for him to get his feet underneath him but he's getting there and we like to have that unit out there on the floor."
A 20-12 pace record translates into 50 wins, by the way.
And Philadelphia who are a half-game up on the Raptors?
All they did was go on a 19-0 run fourth quarter run to beat Boston in Boston last night. And while it might be easy to dismiss the 76ers as a team that's playing well without the weight of expectations, they are 10-2 in March. Seven of those 12 games were on the road, and it's not like it's been all cream puffs, as Philly has knocked off Phoenix, Detroit, San Antonio, Denver and Boston.
A quote from last night in the Philadelphia Inquirer:
"[The Sixers] just play hard,'' Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. "They don't do any tricks or anything like that. They just are aggressive, athletic; they play hard, and if you let them hang around they'll beat you because they are a team, a young team. When it gets close, they start seeing the finish line, and then you have to deal with that energy and that athleticism. And we didn't do a very good job of that.''
Now sure, Washington starts a five-game Western road trip tonight. And Philly has Boston again and Cleveland twice coming up. It makes sense to think they're due to come to earth and the Raptors will finally hit their stride.
But increasingly the Raptors might be looking at the seventh seed strictly on merit.
