NBA finale takeaways: Raptors’ VanVleet exits game, Wolves snap streak

The Toronto Raptors missed out on reaching the 60 wins mark as they fell to the Miami Heat 116-109 in OT.

Heading into the final night of the NBA’s regular season just five of the 16 playoff seeds had been decided.

With plenty at stake around the league — including the Toronto Raptors‘ pursuit of 60 wins and a CanCon-friendly win-or-go-home match between Denver and Minnesota — Game 82 delivered a season’s worth of drama and cleared up a foggy playoff picture.

Here are some takeaways from a wild night of basketball:

Raptors drop OT slugfest ahead of playoff opener

That might not have been the ideal final regular-season game Dwane Casey and the Raptors had in mind.

On the one hand, Wednesday’s 116-109 loss in Miami had the intensity and strategery of a playoff game, a nice tune-up for the real thing beginning this weekend. Then again the chippy game also featured the physicality of post-season hoops and went to overtime. DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry, who went 5-of-10 from beyond the arc, logged 77 combined minutes, which may not be ideal.

More worrisome is the injury suffered to point guard Fred VanVleet. During the fourth quarter VanVleet took a hip check (disguised as a screen) from Miami’s rookie centre Bam Adebayo — who already cracks the top 10 of players you don’t want to run into on a screen — and stayed on the ground for awhile in pain while the play continued around him. When play stopped and the team doctors got him on his feet, VanVleet appeared dazed (and, yes, confused) and left the game. He did not return and was later diagnosed with a right shoulder bruise.

He was one of three Raptors who had to leave during the fourth quarter. C.J. Miles went to the locker room after taking a spill under the basket but soon returned, while Serge Ibaka appeared to knock a tooth loose and left the game as well.

Miles and Ibaka seem fine, but we await further word on the extent of VanVleet’s shoulder injury and whether or not it will cost him any time. The second-year point guard has been arguably the most valuable member of the Raptors second unit and saw his role and minutes increase as the season wore on. VanVleet did not dress for the Raps’ previous game in Detroit on Monday due to a sore back.

In the actual game itself the Raps seemed in decent position to notch win No. 60 on the season — which doesn’t mean much but has an awfully nice ring to it — but couldn’t hold off a deep, tenacious Heat team that will be a nightmare for any club to face in the post-season.

Miami’s Wayne Ellington was unstoppable from deep down the stretch. He shot an absurd 8-of-12 on three-pointers and finished with 32 points while setting a Heat individual record for threes made in a season.

Lowry answered many of Ellington’s buckets with clutch makes of his own and looked assertive from the start of the game. He finished with 28 points, 10 points and nine assists.

The Raptors also enjoyed a big game from centre Jakob Poeltl, who was typically active around the basket and sent the game to overtime on the Raptors’ final possession in regulation. Down two points, DeRozan took off toward the hoop, drew the Heat defence toward him, and kicked the ball to an open Delon Wright in the left corner for an open look at a three-point shot. Wright missed but Poeltl was there with the tip-in rebound to tie the game with eight seconds on the clock. A good defensive possession led by Pascal Siakam forced Miami’s James Johnson into a miss to end regulation, but the Heat stayed hot from beyond the arc in the overtime period.

Entering the game there was a chance that Toronto and Miami would square off in the opening round of the post-season depending on the outcome of their game and others on the NBA schedule. Before the game was over the Raps learned that their first-round opponent will instead be the Washington Wizards.

Miami finishes with the sixth seed and will play the No. 3 Philadelphia 76ers in Round 1 now that all of the East matchups are set.

Cavaliers wind up in fourth

The Cavs’ regular season drew to a close after they were blown out by the 29-win New York Knicks in Cleveland, 110-98.

Cleveland made it absolutely clear that they had zero interest in winning the game and jockeying for position with the third-place 76ers — a Sixers loss on Wednesday coupled with a Cavs win would have propelled Cleveland up the standings, but that was clearly a non-factor for Ty Lue’s club.

LeBron James was one of three starters to log just 11 minutes (starting point guard George Hill played just nine), and was yanked from the game as soon as he scored 10 points, keeping his streak of consecutive games scoring in double-figures, already an NBA record, alive at 873 games and counting.

The loss sets up a favourable first-round matchup with the Indiana Pacers and sets up a potential second-round series between LeBron’s Cavaliers and the Raptors.

Sixers keep rolling

Make it 16 straight wins for the 76ers, the East’s sudden contenders who will ride their win streak into a post-season where they may improbably have a legitimate shot at making the Finals if they can sustain anything close to this rate.

The Sixers took a 36-point lead into halftime against the Milwaukee Bucks, and maintained it until the final buzzer, winning 130-95.

The loss means Milwaukee will face Boston in the first round.

Six players reached double-figures in scoring for Philadelphia, and first-overall pick Markelle Fultz made history when he registered the first triple-double of his career:

When it comes to East playoff threats this team is absolutely for real.

What the 76ers have going for them:
1. They’ve been winning with their defence, which should translate well into the playoffs.
2. Rookie of the Year frontrunner Ben Simmons is looking like a top-10 player in the NBA and doesn’t shy from big moments.
3. They have playoff-tested veterans in meaningful roles, including J.J. Redick, Marco Belinelli, and Ersan Ilyasova.
4. Fultz is emerging as a bona fide X-factor. A monster playoff game or two this year and Fultz’s rookie campaign will go down as the craziest and most unpredictable of all-time.
5. They’ve been extending their win streak without Joel Embiid — if he’s not the best centre in the game he undoubtedly will be within a year or two — who is recovering from a broken orbital bone and is slated to join the team during the first round.

Win and you’re in

It’s literally the most exciting way to end the regular season: Win and you’re in. Lose and it’s a ruse (ok, I’m working on it).

The Denver Nuggets were in Minnesota to play the Timberwolves in a game with simple stakes. With the winner advancing to the post-season and the loser’s season coming to an abrupt end, the two teams delivered an intense overtime thriller, sloppy basketball aside.

The Timberwolves won 112-106 in a game that featured big nights from stars Karl-Anthony Towns (26 points on 12-of-19 shooting and 14 rebounds) and Jimmy Butler (team-high 31 points). Denver’s star centre, Nikola Jokic managed a double-double with 35 points and 10 boards, but marquee off-season signing Paul Millsap managed just 10 points in 36 minutes.

The matchup between the teams gave fans North of the border a chance to see two of Canada’s brightest stars in the NBA go head-to-head, and for much of the game Jamal Murray had the upper hand, including a pair of clutch baskets in the closing minutes.

His Canadian counterpart, Andrew Wiggins, was quiet for much of the game but stepped to the free-throw line with 14.6 seconds remaining and hit a pair of freebies to give Minny a two-possession lead that proved to be too much for the Nuggets to overcome.

This will be the Timberwolves’ first playoff appearance since 2004, bringing the NBA’s longest playoff draught to an end.

Westbrook makes history

Oh, and amid all the chaos of playoff seeding and do-or-die games, Russell Westbrook made history, grabbing 20 (!) rebounds to officially finish the season averaging a triple-double, becoming the only player to ever accomplish the feat twice.

Just another Wednesday night in the NBA.

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