The Toronto Raptors sit in second place in the East, have the best home record in the conference, and are still riding high off a huge Thursday win in which they stomped the Cleveland Cavaliers 133-99.
It was an unexpected blowout considering the Raptors were missing an injured Kyle Lowry and a suspended Serge Ibaka. But would the same thing happen if these teams were to meet in the post-season for a third consecutive year?
Sportsnet.ca’s Ryan Dixon and Sportsnet 590 The Fan’s Mark Boffo joined host Roger Lajoie on the Sportsnet Hot Stove Saturday morning to discuss the potential of this Raptors roster.
“No Lowry, no Ibaka, but when you’ve got that kind of depth it just unleashes the bench and that is where Cleveland can’t keep up with [Toronto],” Lajoie said. “Flipside to that argument though, when you get to the playoffs, when everybody’s motivated and when you’re fully healthy and you’re maybe not using the bench as much, maybe the advantage goes back to Cleveland. But this Raptors team has so many ways to beat you now.”
DeMar DeRozan had only 13 points, but he was one of seven Raptors to score at least 12 points in the game and the team came down with a whopping 63 rebounds.
“Full credit to the management for sticking with it and uncovering some of these guys who can come in and contribute because that’s clearly the story of the Raptors’ season,” Dixon said.
The Raptors have been eliminated by the Cavs in the playoffs in each of the past two seasons, but some are saying this is the most complete Raptors team ever assembled.
“It looks like they can hang with anybody right now just because of the depth that they have and they aren’t afraid of anybody right now,” Boffo added.
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