The Toronto Raptors woke up yesterday morning as the seventh-best team in the worst conference in the NBA.
It wasn't the role they envisaged when training camp started in Italy so many weeks ago.
And because the NBA schedule maker has a sense of humour, the Raptors get a taste of what finishing seventh might be like when they play the No. 2 seed, the Detroit Pistons, tonight at the Air Canada Centre.
"They're just a professional team, man," Raptors head coach Sam Mitchell said of the Pistons. "They just execute you to death and all of a sudden you look up and they've got six or seven baskets in a row and all of a sudden you've gone from being up two to being down 10."
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- Boston Celtics
- Cleveland Cavaliers
- Denver Nuggets
- Detroit Pistons
- Orlando Magic
- Philadelphia 76ers
- Phoenix Suns
- San Antonio Spurs
- Toronto Raptors
- Washington Wizards
- Gilbert Arenas
- Chris Bosh
- Caron Butler
- Anthony Parker
There might even be an analogy in there for the Raptors' season: Almost without warning, a comfortable stroll to the playoffs has turned into a messy affair.
Toronto has lost 11 of its past 14 games. On Sunday, all-star forward Chris Bosh felt compelled to speak out about what he thought was his teammates' passive nature down the stretch in their loss to the Denver Nuggets that day and to the Cleveland Cavaliers last Friday.
Things got so bad the Raptors took the day off Monday.
And while it seems counterintuitive — play poorly and practise less — the team seemed upbeat after a long practice yesterday.
"There are times when you're just going and going and going," shooting guard Anthony Parker said. "And I think we're playing well, but we just need to get away from everyone, regroup and come back with that focus and that freshness and I think we had a good practice."
Before their funk began the Raptors controlled their own playoff destiny.
They had a realistic chance of overtaking the Cavaliers for the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference and hadn't lost sight of the No. 3 spot currently occupied by the Orlando Magic.
Those are pipe dreams now — Orlando is 10 games ahead of Toronto and Cleveland 4 1/2 up entering last night's games. At 35-35, Toronto would have to sweep its last 12 games to match last season's 47-35 record.
The reality is the Raptors will have to play smartly to advance out of the No. 7 spot.
The unheralded Philadelphia 76ers, a half-game up on Toronto in sixth place as of yesterday, have gone 10-2 in March, with wins over quality opponents such as the Phoenix Suns, San Antonio Spurs, Pistons, Boston Celtics and Cleveland.
The Washington Wizards were 1 1/2 games ahead in fifth spot. They've won six of their past seven and will be bolstered as Caron Butler, who missed 16 games with hip problems, returns to form. They begin a tough five-game Western Conference swing tonight, but can also look forward to getting star guard Gilbert Arenas back from a knee injury.
The Raptors are faced with creating some momentum out of nothing.
"We just have to be concerned about us," Mitchell said. "Right now, the first thing is to get in the playoffs. Before you start feeling sorry for yourself, there's a bunch of other teams that would trade places with where we are today.
"Everything we want to accomplish is still right there in front of us, we just have to go get it."
There is no time like the present. The Pistons have blown the Raptors out in two meetings this season. A win tonight would serve many masters, but most important, would give Toronto some confidence it may be lacking.
Bosh's comments alluded to that on Sunday, when he scolded his teammates for not playing with more forcefulness down the stretch of close games.
"I think he's right," Parker said. "As a group and individually we need to be a little less tentative in those situations. We need to seize the moment and that goes for me personally as well."
A win would help that process along and likely silence some doubters.
"Right now, it's not a question of what we feel like, seventh seed or not," Parker said.
"We all know we're capable of playing much better, and that's the key. Wherever we end up at the end of this thing, the goal for us is to try and play like we're capable of playing. We need to treat these games like the playoffs. The playoffs start now."
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