A member of the Chicago Bulls has some words of wisdom for the playoff-bound Toronto Raptors.
It was a disappointing regular season for the Raptors but they have a chance to change that perception and make the 2007-08 season a success if they can defeat the Orlando Magic and advance to the second round.
All player performances and stats, good or bad, don’t mean anything right now because everyone starts from scratch and for some Toronto players, that’s a good thing.
It won’t be an easy task for the Raptors to come away with a series win. They have never won a seven-game series and Toronto and Orlando are eyeing each other with the attitude that they have the match up they want. At least that’s what the Magic is saying.
After speaking with an NBA assistant coach on the phone last, I was told that some of the Orlando front office types are not thrilled about the match up with Toronto. Privately, they are wary of the Raptors ability to make shots and are worried about the backcourt match up.
If you are Toronto, this isn’t your first rodeo and unlike last year, the old “just happy to be here” mentality is not as pervasive. The Raptors remember what happened at this time a year ago in their loss to the New Jersey Nets. They gave up home court advantage after losing Game 1 and could never recover.
There are some interesting numbers surrounding Game 1 of any best-of-seven series and if you read my thoughts in my series breakdown, you probably know what I’m talking about. Suffice to say that if you win Game 1, history says you have close to an 80% (285-78) chance of winning the series. It’s like what Pat Riley says: the playoffs don’t start until the home team loses.
If the Raptors have their way, the playoffs will start tomorrow.
Everyone is offering predictions at this time of year and why not? It’s the best time of the year for basketball fans. Most of the experts south of the border are picking against Toronto, maybe because they have had an inconsistent season, or maybe because they feel the best indicator of playoff performance is the dye cast in the regular season.
Having been around the Raptors all season, there seems to be a quiet feeling that they can shake off the up and down campaign they just completed because this is what they have been waiting for since last September; to get back to the playoffs and take another shot at advancing. It was a foregone conclusion in the players’ eyes that they would be here again when the dust from the regular season had settled.
This is where last year’s experience may help them. John Lucas told Jack Armstrong and I in the hotel lobby in Charlotte that when he was coaching the San Antonio Spurs and they were defeated in the playoffs, he spoke with Bill Parcells. The “Tuna” cautioned Lucas that his team couldn’t come back and win the title the next year without having gone through the entire process again. You have to go back down the mountain and scale it again and the necessary steps had to be taken to get back to the point where the failure occurred before you could exorcise the demons.
It seemed like early in the year the Raptors wanted it all. Nothing wrong with that as they played hard, but remember the second game of the season, the first time they met New Jersey. Toronto blew the Nets out and there were comments such as “this was a statement game”.
Not so fast boys, that was game two with 80 to go and it seemed like Toronto was treating it like it was an extension of the post season. That same line of thinking may have been what helped take down the Dallas Mavericks last season. That and the Golden State Warriors. The Mavs went all out winning 67 games in the regular season but had nothing to show for it in the end.
They played the 2006-07 season like it was the post season of 2005-06, trying to make amends for a finals loss to the Miami Heat. The Mavs made a point of putting the regular season in perspective this year. Even though I don’t think they are going back to the finals, I do believe they will beat the New Orleans Hornets in the first round.
As for the Raptors, the focus appears to be there in this post season, at least right now. Combine that with last year’s experience, opening on the road with the pressure on the home team and if they get their game in order, it could be a recipe for success.
There is even some help coming from the outside in a round about way. At the end of the final regular season game in Chicago, Bulls assistant Pete Myers stood at centre court talking with Jamario Moon after many players were far into the tunnel heading back to the locker room.
This was not a hollow quick “nice game and good luck” chat. The two men both hail from Alabama. I approached Myers in the parking lot as I was heading to the bus and asked him about the conversation. He said he was telling Moon to focus and really “go hard” come playoff time because the post season can be a fleeting entity that can be taken from you so quickly.
In short, you can’t take it for granted. These games aren’t like the others.
“Look at us,” is what Myers said with his palms facing the sky.
