The Raptors are ready to head back to the postseason. They sit in fifth place in the Eastern Conference with a 35-27 record. For Zach Lowe, that doesn’t automatically make them the fifth-best team in the conference, though. On the latest episode of The Zach Lowe Show, he put the Charlotte Hornets in that spot.
“I think they are indisputably the fifth-best team in the Eastern Conference,” Lowe said about the Hornets. “I think they are better than Toronto. I think they are the fifth-best team in the Eastern Conference. The record will not show it because they got off to such a bad start.”
If Lowe believes that the 32-31 Hornets are the fifth-best team in the conference and better than the Raptors, that raises some tough questions for Toronto: If they aren’t the fifth-best team, where do the Raptors fall in the Eastern Conference hierarchy? Are they the sixth-best? Is Toronto a play-in team that simply outplayed its standing and benefited from other teams’ early struggles? How big is the gap between the Raptors and the Hornets? Will the Raptors be able to keep up with the Hornets’ young core in the future?
And, most importantly, can the Raptors prove Lowe wrong?
The Hornets are in the middle of an impressive turnaround
Charlotte entered February with a losing record at 22-28. Just a little over a month later, the Hornets have more wins than losses. Led by LaMelo Ball, Brandon Miller, and Kon Knueppel, the team won 16 of its last 20 games—including some major victories over top teams. The Hornets took down Philadelphia, San Antonio, Houston, and Boston over that stretch.
If they keep winning like this, the Hornets could quickly move up the standings and increase their chances of making the postseason.
The Hornets haven’t made the playoffs since the 2015-16 season. So, just getting into the postseason, even if it’s as a low seed that gets eliminated quickly, would be a huge win. It would also bode well for the team’s future with the young core of Ball, Miller, and Knueppel. If the Hornets want to build a contender around them, they need to get postseason experience.
There’s still plenty of room for movement in the Eastern Conference standings
The Raptors have put themselves in a solid position to secure a playoff spot without having to go through the play-in tournament. But the Eastern Conference standings are far from set in stone. The Pistons have a pretty good lead over the other playoff teams and the gap between the Cavaliers in fourth place and the Raptors in fifth is also notable, but after that, the standings are relatively close.
The Raptors only have a one-game lead over the 76ers. Orlando and Miami are half a game behind Philadelphia for the six seed, and Charlotte and Atlanta are two games behind those teams.
Toronto dropped four of its last five games, losing to OKC, the Spurs, New York, and Minnesota. It was a brutal stretch, but, with the standings being as close as they are, the Raptors need to string together some wins to remind everyone that they belong in that top five.