The Toronto Raptors improved their chances of avoiding the play-in tournament over the past two games.
The Raptors will look for their third straight victory when they visit the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday.
Following a 13-point win over New Orleans on Friday, the Raptors (42-32) blew out Orlando 139-87 on Sunday. They made some history in the process by scoring 31 unanswered points in the first half. It’s the longest run in the NBA since at least the 1996-97 season, per ESPN.
“I actually didn’t know that that was even happening,” star forward Scottie Barnes said. “I think we were all super locked in. Just trying to keep causing turnovers and keep trying as hard as we can on defense that it just helped the lead grow for us.”
By winning two straight games, the Raptors held one of the top six spots in the Eastern Conference, which would assure them a berth into the first round of the playoffs. However, that could easily change if they don’t finish strong.
Atlanta, Philadelphia, Orlando, Miami and Charlotte each have at least 39 victories, so the spots from Nos. 5-10 are up for grabs.
“I think everyone goes home and checks it,” forward Sandro Mamukelashvili said of the standings. “We’re right there. We fought through the whole year to kind of get ourselves in a good position. We slipped up, we came back. Now we know that everything is so stacked, the margin of error is so small, I feel you’ve got to be aware of it. I watch other games, Miami, Orlando, Atlanta — all the teams that are right there with us, what they’re doing and how they’re doing it and make sure we stay on top.”
The Pistons will be playing the second game of a back-to-back. Despite being severely shorthanded, the Pistons took the Thunder into overtime before succumbing, 114-110. Paul Reed led the Pistons with 21 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks.
Detroit (54-21) didn’t have four of its starters for the showdown against the Western Conference’s top team. Along with franchise player Cade Cunningham (collapsed lung), the Pistons didn’t have Jalen Duren (right knee), Tobias Harris (left hip) and Duncan Robinson (right hip).
All of those starters except for Cunningham could be back in action on Tuesday. The road game on Monday didn’t end until after 12:30 a.m., and Tuesday’s home game is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m.
Late-season load management is part of a strategy to prevent the team from wearing down as it approaches what coach J.B. Bickerstaff hopes will be an extended playoff run.
“Health is the most important thing,” he said. “We try our best to use our off days as those days for guys to get rest, get recovery, because you still have to have those calluses to play those types of minutes in the playoffs. So, it’s not like you can just give guys weeks off. We’re trying to win, we’re trying to compete. That’s first and foremost for us. But also building up those calluses, so guys are prepared for the intensity that we expect to be coming next.”
