The Toronto Raptors have held first or second place in the Eastern Conference for the entire season, but by the looks of things that’s about to change.
Toronto has been playing awful basketball of late, and with the Chicago Bulls and Cleveland Cavaliers just a half game and one game back of the Raptors, respectively, and playing at a much higher level than Toronto, don’t be surprised when the Raptors drop a couple of spots in the standings and begin fighting for the ever-important home-court advantage in the playoffs.
Just about the only positive news regarding the Raptors of late is the fact that the Washington Wizards are on an even steeper nosedive—playing so poorly that the possibility of a drop to the seven or eight seed has made its way onto the table.
Small mercies.
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1 | With their win against the Rockets on Tuesday, the Hawks became the first team this season to clinch a playoff spot. Impressive. |
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2 | You know you’re having a pretty damn good season when the worst stretch you’ve gone through is a 4-3 record over the last seven games. |
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3 | Austin Rivers got into it a little bit with Kevin Garnett on Monday. It’s difficult to tell if this is a sign of Rivers’ toughness or the fact that Garnett doesn’t scare anyone anymore. Either way, Rivers came away as the clear winner of the exchange. |
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5 | So, Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao are finally going to fight? Any chance we can get Z-Bo versus Boogie as an undercard? |
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6 | LeBron James has enjoyed a record-breaking couple of weeks. First he passed the great Scottie Pippen for most ever assists by a forward and then he surpassed former-teammate Ray Allen for 21st in all-time NBA scoring. |
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7 | I wonder how many times Chris Kaman’s busted out this move to finish off unsuspecting fools in H-O-R-S-E? |
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8 | Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle and Rajon Rondo had a heated on-court exchange during Dallas’ win against the Raptors. The incident stemmed from Carlisle benching Rondo during the game, and eventually led to a one-game suspension for the point guard. Speculation has since emerged indicating that Rondo will leave the Mavericks for the Lakers in the off-season. |
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9 | Russell Westbrook has four triple-doubles in the Thunder’s last 12 games—a span in which he’s averaged 31.7 points, 9.9 rebounds and 8.9 assists per game on 45.2 percent shooting to lead his team to a 9-3 record. Right now OKC is in a playoff spot and it’s mostly because of Westbrook. He should get some MVP consideration. |
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10 | Everyone knows that R.C. Buford and the Spurs’ front office are smart, but smart enough to win a couple of Sloan Sports Analytics awards? Apparently so. |
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11 | Derrick Rose has undergone yet another knee surgery and is projected to be out 4-6 weeks. At this point, would it be too depressing to start comparing his career to Penny Hardaway’s? |
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12 | The Pelicans lost on Monday, snapping a five-game win streak that landed them on the cusp of a playoff spot. New Orleans now only trails eighth in the West (OKC) by a game. Buckle up, this is going to be one hell of a stretch run. |
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13 | Perhaps spurred on by what feels like Paul George’s impending return to action, the Pacers are surging right now, having won eight of their last 10 to come within a half-game of the eighth seed in the East. |
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14 | Things aren’t looking good for the Raptors. Despite beating the 76ers on Monday to snap a season-worst five-game losing streak, Toronto continued to play poorly, particularly on the defensive end where they are allowing opponents to score 104.6 points per 100 possessions on 47.6 percent shooting. Yuck! |
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15 | Larry Sanders, who was bought out by the Milwaukee Bucks, came out and explained his side of the story, describing his battles with anxiety and depression. Meanwhile, his former team as dropped three straight. |
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16 | Washington has won only three times in its last 15 games, racking up losing streaks of five and six games, respectively, during that span. There’s no indication the Wizards will pull out of this tailspin anytime soon. |
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17 | Despite word of a fire sale in Brooklyn, only Kevin Garnett was moved at the deadline. This was definitely a good deal for the Nets as they’ve played better without KG on the floor this season. Now that they’re in a playoff spot, Brooklyn has a better shot of hanging on to it without the Big Ticket. |
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18 | Whether the Celtics make the playoffs or not, they definitely emerged from deadline day as a big winner. The acquisition of Isaiah Thomas from the Phoenix Suns for (essentially) one of their many first-rounders was an amazing pick up and it’s paid immediate dividends. Thomas has been named Eastern Conference player of the week and in the six games he’s played in green he’s averaging 20 points per. |
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19 | Something tells me Markieff Morris didn’t like how the whole Goran Dragic situation shook out. |
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20 | The Jazz have lost just twice in their last nine games and own the league’s best defensive rating (91.7 points allowed per 100 possessions) in that span. Their odds of making the playoffs this season are slim at best, but playing well to finish the year could do wonders for this young squad’s confidence moving forward. |
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21 | In six games with the Hornets, Mo Williams is averaging 22.8 points on 44.8 percent shooting and a scorching 42 percent three-point percentage. This hot streak couldn’t come a better time as Charlotte is tied with the Nets right now and are stuck in the ninth spot because Brooklyn holds the tie-breaker. |
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22 | Just as the Heat made the biggest move of the deadline by acquiring Goran Dragic, word came out that Chris Bosh is done for the season with blood clots in his lungs. Bosh is thankfully out of the hospital and recovering, but Miami will be in tough without him. |
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23 | Follow-up on this potential Randolph-Cousins undercard bout. Boogie has a chin, sort of. |
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24 | So, how’s Reggie Jackson doing as a lead guard? Not bad, but not great. Jackson is averaging 16 points and 6.5 assists per game over the four he’s played in Detroit, but he’s only shooting 37.9 percent from the field and the team is just 1-3. |
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25 | I’m not sure which ridiculous Lakers story is best, the Kobe death glare, the Steve Nash Temecula reference, or the Nick Young-ESPN beef. |
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26 | There isn’t a whole lot left for the Magic to play for this season, so may as well look ahead to the off-season where the team has some urgent business to attend to: signing Tobias Harris to a contract extension. Harris has emerged as a Shawn Marion-esque star in the making this season and is set to become a restricted free agent. Don’t mess around. Pay him. Pay that man his money. |
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27 | Kevin Garnett, Minnesota’s greatest ever player, is back. That’s pretty cool, but this Andrew Wiggins spin move is cooler. |
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28 | If there’s one thing Sixers management knows how to do it’s tank. At the deadline, Philly dealt reigning rookie of the year Michael Carter-Williams for yet another lottery pick. This team is looking more and more like the Edmonton Oilers of the NBA. |
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29 | The Nuggets have fired head coach Brian Shaw. The timing is strange. Denver was going nowhere, so why not ride it out until season’s end? |
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30 | Are the Knicks still able to attract marquee free agents? Derek Fisher thinks so. Being the worst team in the league with a difficult-to-build-around superstar may say otherwise, though. |
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