The Raptors do not want to finish the regular season in the play-in tournament. It would put their playoff hopes at risk and add one or two highly stressful games before a gruelling first-round series.
They were in seventh place for a bit after their loss to the Boston Celtics, but the San Antonio Spurs allowed them to climb back into sixth place with a 115-102 win over the Philadelphia 76ers. If the Raptors can string together some wins against the Heat, Knicks, and Nets and the 76ers lose at least one more game, they might just be able to hold on to that precious six-seed.
The Raptors finishing sixth wouldn’t just be a win for Toronto, though. It would also be a massive win for the New York Knicks.
The Knicks would rather face the Raptors than the 76ers in the first round
The Knicks will very likely finish third in the Eastern Conference, trailing only the Pistons and the Celtics. That means they will face whichever team finishes sixth in the first round.
While the Hawks could still fall in the standings, the battle for the sixth seed is currently between the Raptors and the 76ers. If the Knicks have the choice between a 76ers team that has Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, and Paul George and already proved that it could beat them and a young Raptors team with little playoff experience that just hasn’t been able to win against good teams this season, they will take the latter.
The Raptors will be underdogs no matter what
No matter where they finish the regular season, the Raptors won’t enter a playoff season as the favorite to win. The one team they would have a decent chance of upsetting is Cleveland.
But that’s okay. This is the first season of Scottie Barnes, Brandon Ingram, RJ Barrett, and Immanuel Quickley all playing together. It would also be the team’s first trip to the playoffs since the 2021-22 season.
They don’t have to win a first-round series against a top team in the league to consider this season a success. Getting their key players some playoff minutes will be important for the future, and seeing how the core will hold up in a series against a tough opponent will help evaluate what moves the organization needs to make in the offseason.
Of course, it would be nice to avoid getting swept and making the series interesting, but that’s not a priority right now. First, the Raptors need to actually punch their ticket to the playoffs.