Triple M wrote:The Raps are one of the hottest teams in the league, and their defence was great the last 15-20 games, so I understand the conference Raptor fans have, but I don't think I can pick them over a more experienced team with an MVP candidate. The hot team coming into a 4/5 matchup feels commonplace, so that it will be a tough series either way.
That's fair. I mean, Philly does have the best and most dominant player plus the potential of Harden suddenly playing like he's not Rubio while also owning HCA. Toronto has some very inexperienced players too with Barnes and Achiuwa getting their first playoff taste while Boucher (47 total playoff minutes) and GTJ (5 bubble playoff games) haven't really got a proper taste of playoff basketball either. It could get really ugly if Toronto can't force turnovers or get on the glass to try to get some easy transition points.
I think when looking at the Raptors, the last ~50 games are a very good read at what the team can be though -- and coupled with the fact that Toronto beat Philly twice in the last month despite being without FVV and OG in both games, there is reason for optimism.
In the first 32 games, Toronto's top 5 (Siakam, FVV, OG, Barnes, GTJ) played just 3 games together. When they were finally all healthy in January, Nurse rode those 5 + Boucher and Achiuwa off the bench and basically went with a 7-man rotation plus some spot minutes from Banton and Yuta. This continued into February when Toronto picked up Thad, which pushed the rotation to a solid 8 with barely any minutes going to the rest. Since the ASB, Toronto hasn't really been healthy (OG missed 19 of 25 games and FVV missed 10 of 25 games), but they posted a 16-9 record in large part due to their defence (#5 post-ASB) and Siakam (25/8/6).
First 32 games: 15-17; Svi played all 32 games (18.6 MPG), Banton played 29 games (12.7 MPG) and Flynn played 23 games (9.5 MPG) while Champagnie (16 GP and 7.4 MPG), Yuta (13 GP and 21.3 MPG) and Bonga (11 GP and 5.4 MPG) also had some chances at the rotation. A lot of extra minutes went to 3rd stringers and G-Leaguers.
Last 50 games: 33-17; Banton (35 GP and 9.4 MPG), Yuta (24 GP and 6.8 MPG), Svi (24 GP and 5.1 MPG) and Bonga (4 GP and 2.4 MPG) played significantly less while Flynn (21 GP and 15.2 MPG) basically only played high minutes when FVV was injured/resting (26 MPG in 11 such games, 4 MPG in the other 10). A lot of extra minutes went to Toronto's top 7 or 8 players while the 3rd stringers and G-Leaguers generally only played in blowouts or a couple minutes here and there.