The NBA G League have announced the upcoming playoff schedule, and because the Raptors 905 finished the regular season with the best record in the Eastern Conference (and the entire G League) they have earned a bye that will allow them to bypass the first round.
The first round will consist of single elimination games between the following Eastern Conference teams:
- The 4 seeded Capital City Go-Go (21-10) and the 5 seeded College Park Skyhawks (20-13)
- The 3 seeded Delaware Blue Coats (22-10) and the 6 seeded Long Island Nets (18-15)
Both games will take place on Tuesday, April 7th at 7:00 p.m and 8:00 p.m respectively.
The winner of the Capital City Go-Go and College Park Skyhawks game will face the Raptors 905 in the second round, again in a single elimination game on Thursday, April 7th at 7:30 p.m at the Paramount Fine Foods Centre in Mississauga.
Leading up to the Showcase Cup (which the Raptors 905 were unable to compete in) they split the series 1 and 1 with Capital City, with both the 128-109 loss and the 120-113 win taking place at home, and again split the series 1 and 1 with College Park. Capital City swept the regular season series defeating the 905 113-105 in Washington and 116-112 in Mississauga. The Raptors 905 were more successful against the Skyhawks, beating them 128-104 at home and 126-121 in College Park.
The 2 seeded Motor City Cruise also earned a bye, and will face the winner of the Delaware Blue Coats and Long Island Nets game.
This means that if the Raptors 905 advance to the Eastern Conference Finals, they will face either the Motor City Cruise, the Delaware Blue Coats, or the Long Island Nets.
The 905 only faced Motor City once during the regular season, defeating them 123-116 in Mississauga.
Leading up to the Showcase Cup, the Raptors 905 split the Long Island series (with both games on the road) with a 106-98 win and a 114 – 110 loss. They defeated them by a single point (103-102) at home in the regular season, and lost 114-99 on the road.
The Delaware Blue Coats won the Showcase Cup in December, and were the team that eliminated the Raptors 905 in the Eastern Conference Finals during the bubble season. Delaware defeated the 905 both times in November, 120-94 and 114-106 respectively. They split the regular season 1 and 1, with Delaware winning 126-121 in Mississauga, and the 905 winning 109-104 on the road.
These records may appear daunting, but with constant movement in the G League, you are rarely ever playing the same team twice. Players have been traded, signed to 10-days, signed for the remainder of the season, etc. It is also likely that players assigned to their respective G League teams during the regular season will not be available during the playoffs, and vice versa.
Because of scheduling and travel restrictions in the G League, the Eastern Conference and Western Conference do not play each other during the regular season. If the Raptors 905 make it to the Finals, it will be their first time facing off against one of the following teams:
- Rio Grande Valley Vipers (24-10)
- Agua Caliente Clippers (22-11)
- South Bay Lakers (21-11)
- Birmingham Squadron (18-14)
- Texas Legends (19-15)
- Santa Cruz Warriors (15-17)
The Western Conference Playoffs follow the same format as the East, with Rio Grande Valley and Agua Caliente both earning a bye, and the following matchups takin place on April 5th:
- Texas Legends (5th seed) vs. Birmingham Squadron (4th seed)
- South Bay Lakers (3rd seed) vs. Santa Cruz Warriors (6th seed)
The winner of Texas vs. Birmingham will play Rio Grande Valley (1st seed) while the winner of South Bay vs. Santa Cruz will play Agua Caliente (2nd seed). The winner of each of these games will then play each other in the Western Conference Final, with the winner playing the team that comes out of the East.
You can catch all of the NBA G League playoff action at https://gleague.nba.com/ for free.
