The fate of the Toronto Raptors’ season could be determined Thursday night in a huge clash with the Washington Wizards at 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT on Sportsnet ONE.
Toronto is only 3.0 games back of Washington for No. 10 in the Eastern Conference, so a win Thursday could be massive in keeping the Raptors’ play-in tournament dreams alive, pulling within 2.0 games of the Wizards.
And, of course, on the flip side, a loss would drop the Raptors to 4.0 games back where the odds of catching the Wizards with only five games remaining on their regular-season schedule would be astronomically low.
Here are four things to watch for ahead of Thursday night’s game.
Wizards enter matchup playing incredibly well
The Wizards have been among the hottest teams in basketball over the past month, sporting a 13-4 record since April 7 with an offensive rating of 117 points per 100 possessions and a net rating of plus-6.5 during this time span.
To put those numbers in context, the Brooklyn Nets currently lead the NBA with an offensive rating of 117.1 and the Milwaukee Bucks sport the No. 2 net rating in the league at plus-6.2 (the Utah Jazz lead the league at plus-9.2).
Additionally, before April 7, Washington was only putting up an offensive rating of 108.1 and a net rating of minus-5.1.
This is a dramatic turnaround for a team that had, quite frankly, been very poor, but there appears to be a reason for it.
Prior to April 7, Wizards star Bradley Beal missed five games, leaving Washington without its best player for a short while, meaning it was up to his running mate this season, Russell Westbrook, to try to pick up the slack.
He didn’t do a very good job of it as Washington went only 1-4 in that period, but Westbrook averaged 24.4 points, 13.2 rebounds and 12.6 assists per game during that span, far greater numbers than the 21.4 points, 10 rebounds and 10.2 assists he was putting up in the games before.
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That hot streak when Westbrook was the lone key weapon for Washington appeared to spark something in him and upon Beal’s return to the lineup Westbrook just stayed hot, finally allowing Washington’s monstrous backcourt duo meet the potential that was always expected when Westbrook was first traded to Washington for John Wall.
In his last 23 games, Westbrook is averaging 22.6 points, 13.8 rebounds and 13 assists per game, a run that has allowed him to, once again, average a triple-double for the season and now has him just two triple-doubles shy of Oscar Robertson’s all-time record.
And most importantly, as Westbrook has put up these gaudy numbers, the Wizards have been winning as the all-around threat of Westbrook and the scoring prowess of Beal (who has been putting up 30.7 points per game since April 7) have come together in perfect harmony.
So make no mistake, what Washington has been doing is no fluke and the Raptors will be in very tough against them on Thursday night.
Raptors have to take advantage of Wizards on back-to-back
One small advantage the Raptors have coming into Thursday’s game is that they’ll be catching Washington on a back-to-back.
The Wizards fell to the Bucks Wednesday night in Milwaukee, losing just by a single point, 135-134, in an entertaining, high-octane game.
Playing fast and putting up a lot of points has become Washington’s calling card since it’s managed to turn its season around, but it’s a double-edged sword in that it can leave a team gassed the next night if a club is playing a back-to-back.
This could be the case Thursday night for the Wizards, who are only 6-10 on the second night of back-to-backs this season with a negative net rating of minus-1.1 in those 16 games.
Toronto has to take advantage of this and possibly look to jump on the Wizards early, forcing them to run out of steam.
You gotta do anything to win, right?
Injury report
The Raptors will, again, be without OG Anunoby (calf), Chris Boucher (knee) and Paul Watson Jr. (knee) Thursday.
Anunoby missed Toronto’s last two games against the two L.A. teams on their recent Western Conference road trip, while Boucher and Watson didn’t even travel with the team out west.
The loss of Anunoby to put onto someone like a Beal or Westbrook will certainly be felt Thursday, and the same goes, possibly, for Yuta Watanabe.
Watanabe’s status has been downgraded to “questionable” for Thursday as he’s dealing with an ankle problem. Should he be unable to go, that’s one less tool at head coach Nick Nurse’s disposal to throw at Beal or Westbrook on the defensive end, unfortunately.
Worse yet, Rui Hachimura will miss Thursday’s game as he still hasn’t recovered the non-COVD illness that forced him out of Wednesday’s contest, meaning the fated Watanabe-Hachimura all-Japan clash will once again be cancelled.
In some good news on the injury front, though, Raptors guard Gary Trent Jr. is listed as “probable” for Thursday’s game. He’s missed the last six games working through a leg contusion, but if he’s able to play his scoring punch off the bench will be a welcome addition for a Raptors team that will probably need it to keep pace with Washington.
Keep your eye on the Pacers, too
The Indiana Pacers started the season well under new head coach and former Raptors assistant Nate Bjorkgren. They were 8-4 in their first 12 games and sitting pretty at No. 3 in the East.
After that, however, it’s been a slow, precipitous descent down the standings, culminating with a 11-point home loss Wednesday to the Sacramento Kings, who were without De’Aaron Fox, Tyrese Haliburton and Harrison Barnes, to drop the ninth-place Pacers to just 0.5 games ahead of No. 10 Washington.
The Pacers are 22-31 since their hot start and, most recently, have appeared to be imploding after losing four of their last five games.
It may not necessarily all be Bjorkgren’s fault but he’s receiving the most heat for this collapse in the making, with a clip that made the rounds Wednesday night of assistant Greg Foster losing it on centre Goga Bitadze while a very-tuned-out Domantas Sabonis appeared as if he could care less being the latest proof Bjorkgren hasn’t been able to keep his house in order.
This is bad news for Indiana but, from a Raptors perspective, could be just the opening Toronto needs to squeak into the play-in tournament.
With how well Washington is playing, it feels inevitable that the Wizards will take the No. 9 seed, meaning the team Toronto will then have to chase would be the Pacers. With Indiana apparently imploding, it could be a better situation for the Raptors as there’s a greater chance they’ll be aided by a Pacers fall.
Also, a very important fact to keep in mind: the Raptors play the Pacers in their regular-season finale. So even if Toronto falls to Washington on Thursday, as slim as their chances might be, they may still have a shot against Indiana.
