The Toronto Raptors will face the Washington Wizards in the first round of the 2018 NBA playoffs.
The Wizards lost to the Orlando Magic 101-92 on Wednesday night.
The NBA’s playoff seeding came down to the final game of the regular season, with only five of the sixteen seeds — Toronto (1), Boston (2), Houston (1), Golden State (2), and Indiana (5) — locked in heading into Wednesday.
Having already solidified the top seed in the East for the first time in franchise history, the Raptors entered the final night with three potential first-round opponents: the Wizards, Bucks, or Miami Heat.
The Raps have recent playoff history with all three but the Wizards arguably present the most daunting task. After earning home court advantage in 2015, Toronto was unceremoniously swept in four games by Washington. The Wizards’ current core of John Wall, Bradley Beal, Otto Porter, and Marcin Gortat remains the same from that team while Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan, Jonas Valanciunas and Dwane Casey are the only carryover from that series for the Raptors.
Apart from losing to a 25-win Magic team on Wednesday, the Wizards enter the post-season with just three wins in their last twelve games.
Toronto and Washington split their season series 2-2, each splitting a win each at home and on the road.
The NBA playoffs — and the Raptors’ chance for redemption versus the Wiz — begins this weekend.
Game one gets under way Saturday in Toronto with tip-off scheduled for 5:30 PM ET live on Sportsnet One.
Game two will take place on Tuesday, April 17th at 7 pm ET and then the series will shift to Washington with games three and four scheduled for the following Friday and Sunday. You can catch game four on Sportsnet.
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