1 advantage Raptors have over Bulls, Hawks, and Heat in play-in
By Mike Luciano
The Toronto Raptors are smack dab in the middle of the Eastern Conference right now, as their 38-38 record has them fighting for their postseason lives in a year where many expected them to improve upon their 48 wins from the previous campaign.
Toronto and the Atlanta Hawks have the same record, with the Miami Heat one seed above those two warring factions at No. 7 overall. The Heat will welcome whoever earns the No. 8 seed in a game that will send the winner to the postseason, while the loser of the Atlanta-Toronto war will likely take on the Chicago Bulls in a win-or-go-home game.
The Raptors have shown they can hold their own against these teams in the regular season, but the playoffs are still a totally different animal. Every flaw is exposed to an uncomfortable degree, and every positive aspect of Toronto’s style will need to be put on full display for them to have a shot.
The Raptors have advantages over Chicago, Atlanta, and Miami that could help them snatch a few hard-fought victories away from them in what promises to be a true battle royale. Only by asserting their dominance in these respective areas can the Raptors escape this tournament.
1 advantage Toronto Raptors have over Bulls, Hawks, Heat
Chicago Bulls: Turnovers
The Bulls rank 13th in the NBA in turnovers per game, though that number would be much worse if they played Toronto frequently. In all three of the Raptors’ matchups with Chicago, Billy Donovan’s side has struggled with holding onto the ball and generating turnovers to make up for it on the other end.
Toronto’s mission statement on the floor is to force their opponent into as many turnovers as possible while limiting the turnovers committed on their end. While difficult to implement every night, the Bulls have shown to be fairly unresponsive when confronted like this.
The Toronto Raptors must force turnovers against the Bulls.
Toronto is willing to make concessions on that side of the floor, including allowing some open 3-pointers, to preserve a style that can overwhelm smaller and more inexperienced backcourt. With the backcourt beat up by injuries, this alignment has been confusing enough to befuddle Chicago despite some very close calls.
Having isolation scorers like DeMar DeRozan can help make up for poor performance in this area, but OG Anunoby locking him down in prior matchups should give the Raptors lots of confidence. Toronto also has the benefit of Jakob Poeltl, who could make life harder on Nikola Vucevic down low.