If there’s a series where nobody has any clue which way its going to go, it has to be the Raptors vs. Magic. At best one can say that it might go 7 games given the makeup and recent history of the two teams. Orlando has lost 7 of the last 9 against us but did finish well above us in the standings. However, the highly similar structure of the two teams (PF + shooters) makes this one too close to call. The Raptors clear cut advantage lies in the point guard position but it’s anybody’s guess how well we’ll be utilizing that.
The series schedule came out on Thursday and everybody was wrong about the start time, it ends up being a 12:30PM start time in Orlando (good seats still available). It’s a one day break between the first 5 games which means any between-game adjustments need to be made in a shoot around or a light practice, this does favor the Raptors as it gives less time for Stan van Gundy to study and analyze game tape and then implement tweaks. I suppose having two plays had its advantages in terms of simplifying the complexity of any adjustments you might’ve made.
The Raptors going into this series as underdogs is nothing new, as much as we’d like to think nobody’s picking us to win and how that should motivate us, we need to realize we were also underdogs last year against New Jersey and that didn’t exactly help us. If anything we’re less of an underdog this year than last year so I really don’t know what all this talk is about.
Jose Calderon ended up winning the Assist to Turnover title while Jason Kapono won the 3-point FG title (so freaking skewed given his play and lack of 3s). Lang Whitaker voted in Jose third on the Sixth Man of the Year ballot only to realize he’s not eligible for the award. ESPN’s Scoop Jackson did a heartwarming piece on the Jose Calderon and TJ Ford saga that made me want to give both of them big hugs. Seriously though, lets see the Toronto media spit out an objective article like that, instead we get shit like this.
Good news for Jack Armstrong fans (myself included), he’s likely to be back with MLSE in some capacity (most likely play-by-play), the shrewd Irish drunk has made an excellent career move by hiring Gord Kirke as his agent. One thing this tells me is that Jack really wants to work in Toronto. Jack is the voice of objectivity and accurate analysis in the Toronto basketball media and to top things off he’s by far the funniest personality on air. No grown man can get away with yelling out Hello! when a half-naked cheerleader appears on screen.
Here’s some reasons why you should be pumped about this series:
- It’s the NBA Playoffs and we’re in it. 5 years ago we would’ve killed to be in the playoffs and now that we’re here, how can you NOT get excited?
- We have a chance to go into the second around which we haven’t done since Philly.
- We’re going to see which players on our team have the ability to “step up”. The playoffs separate the men from the boys and we have a chance to see who the keepers on this team are. Is Delfino worth it? Can Kapono deliver in the playoffs? Can Bosh handle Howard in the clutch?
- Purple Fever (now in Red) is back at the ACC. We’re the only Toronto team in the post-season and have plenty of support.
- We’ll be on national TV in the states and its an opportunity to make a mark.
- Sure, the Raptors season has been a disappointment but we have a chance to fix some shit and go into the summer with a good feeling.
