This is the first thing done, and an important accomplishment in a season far from obvious: the Raptors are qualified for the rest of the season since they are guaranteed to play the “play-in”.
For long weeks, Toronto indeed flirted with the red line between 11th and 12th places before stringing together 8 successes in 10 games during the month of February to get back on their feet, with the aim of finishing strong.
There was still one victory to go yesterday in Charlotte to secure a place in the play-in and Nick Nurse’s men did the job by winning 128-108.
“It’s very important for us to get to eighth place”, said Fred VanVleetthe hero of the meeting, before the result of the Hawks. “For the past few weeks, it’s been very simple for us: we’ve been in “win every game” mode. There is not much else to analyze. You have to go out there, play your best and try to do what has to be done. We just try to play our best basketball at this time of year.”
The meeting was indeed illuminated by the exceptional performance of Fred VanVleetwith 20 points and 20 assists, a performance that earned him the greetings of the two coaches after the meeting.
“He was very good. He made sure the ball went where it needed to go.”confided Nick Nurse while Steve Clifford confessed that FVV had “crushed” his Hornets. “Every pick-and-roll, no matter the angle, the side, either he scored, or he was fouled, or he got a shot wide open. So we mixed up the systems, but none of that worked.”
The tie-breaker for the Hawks
At his side, the other Raptors found solutions to fuel the brand during an evening where they did not particularly shine with their address. This is also what Nick Nurse appreciated, when there are now less than ten days to prepare for the “play-in”, where one or even two games will decide the fate of the Canadian franchise season.
“I think we played very disciplined offensively”he explained. “We didn’t take a lot of good shots, we managed very good passes for 3-pointers from the corners, and we didn’t take a single one. But we keep doing the right thing and getting the ball where it needs to go, and that’s all we can do.”
After a new meeting in Charlotte scheduled for Tuesday, the Raptors will end the regular season with heavyweight in order to best prepare for the “play-in”, with a double confrontation in Boston and the reception of Milwaukee next Sunday.
The Raptors and the Hawks have the same balanced record (39 wins – 39 losses), but Atlanta has the “tie-breaker” between the two formations. The Raptors, on the other hand, have the “tie-breaker” on the Heat and the Bulls in the event of a tie with these two teams.
| Shots | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | bp | Int | CT | party | Points |
| Pascal Siakam | 68 | 37.5 | 47.7 | 32.7 | 76.8 | 1.8 | 5.9 | 7.8 | 6.0 | 2.4 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 3.2 | 24.3 |
| Fred Vanvleet | 66 | 37.0 | 39.7 | 34.5 | 89.7 | 0.4 | 3.7 | 4.2 | 7.2 | 2.1 | 1.8 | 0.5 | 2.8 | 19.7 |
| Gary Trent, Jr. | 63 | 32.6 | 43.4 | 37.1 | 83.8 | 0.5 | 2.2 | 2.7 | 1.6 | 0.8 | 1.6 | 0.2 | 1.6 | 17.7 |
| Og Anunoby | 64 | 35.7 | 48.0 | 39.5 | 83.8 | 1.4 | 3.6 | 5.1 | 1.9 | 2.0 | 1.9 | 0.7 | 3.0 | 17.0 |
| Scottie Barnes | 73 | 35.0 | 46.0 | 28.8 | 77.8 | 2.4 | 4.4 | 6.8 | 4.9 | 2.0 | 1.1 | 0.8 | 2.2 | 15.7 |
| Jakob Poeltl | 22 | 28.6 | 66.7 | 0.0 | 58.8 | 3.4 | 6.2 | 9.5 | 2.3 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 1.5 | 3.2 | 14.2 |
| chris butcher | 72 | 20.1 | 49.1 | 32.0 | 75.5 | 2.1 | 3.5 | 5.7 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.9 | 1.9 | 9.4 |
| Precious Achiuwa | 51 | 20.7 | 47.5 | 24.5 | 68.6 | 1.8 | 4.0 | 5.8 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 1.8 | 8.8 |
| Otto Porter | 8 | 18.3 | 50.0 | 35.3 | 100.0 | 0.8 | 1.6 | 2.4 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 1.4 | 0.0 | 0.9 | 5.5 |
| Thaddeus Young | 54 | 14.7 | 54.5 | 17.6 | 69.2 | 1.3 | 1.8 | 3.1 | 1.4 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 0.1 | 1.6 | 4.4 |
| Malachi Flynn | 50 | 12.9 | 34.7 | 34.9 | 72.4 | 0.3 | 1.1 | 1.4 | 1.3 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 1.2 | 4.4 |
| Dalano Banton | 28 | 9.0 | 40.7 | 28.3 | 78.9 | 0.3 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 1.0 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 1.1 | 4.3 |
| Christian Koloko | 54 | 14.0 | 46.9 | 9.1 | 65.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 3.0 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 1.0 | 2.3 | 3.2 |
| Juancho Hernangomez | 42 | 14.6 | 42.1 | 25.4 | 56.3 | 0.6 | 2.3 | 2.9 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 1.0 | 2.9 |
| Will Barton | 12 | 12.2 | 27.7 | 20.0 | 100.0 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 1.5 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 1.0 | 2.8 |
| Jeff Dowtin | 24 | 10.3 | 44.6 | 31.3 | 71.4 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 2.5 |
| Khem Birsh | 20 | 8.1 | 59.4 | 50.0 | 80.0 | 0.4 | 0.9 | 1.3 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 1.2 | 2.2 |
| Justin Champagnie | 3 | 3.6 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 2.0 |
| Ron Harper | 6 | 3.0 | 50.0 | 40.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.7 |
| Joe Wieskamp | 6 | 5.2 | 37.5 | 42.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 1.5 |
