If the goal is to make the playoffs, then nobody should be worried. It’s going to be tough for us to catch Milwaukee, Miami or Charlotte (Chuck Swirsky feels the pain) given their fine forms (overall 15 straight wins, Miami 3-0, Charlotte 6-0, Milwaukee 6-0), but Chicago is another mater. The Bulls have bettered the Raptors 5 straight losses by losing 7 straight of their own. The Raptors have lost 9 of 10 but still manage to be one game ahead of Chicago in the loss column which is really what matters.

Comparing the schedule of the Raptors and Bulls, we notice that the Bulls play two more games against teams over .500. The road/home games are even with both teams having 17 games to play. The Raptors have no major injuries while the Bulls have Joakim Noah out indefinitely and have injuries to Derrick Rose and Loul Deng, both questionable for their game against Memphis.

According to the Hollinger Playoff Odds, the Raptors have a 63.2% chance of making it to the playoffs; the Bulls are at 39.4%. All teams below them are at 0%.

The question isn’t whether we’ll make the playoffs, it’s if making the playoffs is even worth it given the way we’re playing. A pessimist might say that all it’ll do is give Miami a lottery pick; an optimist could argue that if we sneak in as the 8th seed and face Cleveland, who we’ve played fairly tough, anything could happen. A realist would bet on a nice and quick first-round exit with the only good thing coming from it being two home playoff dates.

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