The Bulls beat the Hawks tonight, which means the Raptors will face the Washington WIzards in the first-round of the NBA playoffs, which will start Saturday in Toronto.
The Hawks were up 18 in this game before the Bulls stormed back and completed a fourth quarter comeback by playing a full-strength side in the final quadrant, while Atlanta rested key starters.
As per our poll, most fans would have rather faced Milwaukee, but Washington it is. Be sure to check out William Lou’s post which analysed the two possible opponents. The Raptors were 3-0 against the Wizards this season, but there’s a school of thought that that isn’t indicative of how a playoff series might turn out. This line of thinking is primarily driven by the Wizards experience in the post-season, and the number of veterans they have, led by Paul Pierce.
This is a matchup of two offenses that are not pretty to watch, for two reasons: they are extremely wing-oriented despite having good interior players, and they rely on isolation play to kickstart possessions. Ball-movement is not something they seemingly hold in high regard, but the Wizards offense is deceptive. They’re third in the league for 2-pt AST% and 5th in 3-pt AST%, so their scores are the result of at least some interplay. The Raptors are 27th and 28th, respectively, which speaks to how iso-heavy they really are.
This series already has some color with Paul Pierce speaking about how the Raptors lack “it” when it comes to playoff experience. DeRozan accepted the challenged and said comments like those motivated the team, and added this little tidbit soon after:
DeRozan said Pierce better hope Chicago prevents Raptors-Wizards meeting so Pierce "Doesn't have to see what 'it' is."
— Ryan Wolstat (@WolstatSun) April 16, 2015
This is a 4-5 matchup with the winner to face the winner of the Atlanta Hawks and Pacers/Nets series.