Coming off their most successful season in franchise history, the Toronto Raptors are looking to take the next step, which would be making the NBA Finals for the first time.
In order to make this a reality, there’s no getting around facing LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Last year, the Raptors pushed Cleveland to six games. In attempts to get over the top, Toronto added Serge Ibaka and P.J. Tucker via trades.
Unfortunately, all-star point guard Kyle Lowry will be out a few weeks.
https://twitter.com/RaptorsMR/status/836306542605393920
While Lowry should be ready for postseason play, this hurts Toronto in more ways than you think. As before mentioned, any team hoping to play in June, you’ll have to go through Cleveland, but you’d like to face them as late as possible.
Currently, Toronto sits in fourth place in the eastern conference. They’re tied with the Washington Wizards, but they own the tiebreaker. Meaning, if Toronto ends up where they are now, assuming they win their first round matchup, they would end up facing Cleveland in the second round.
With this injury to Lowry, odds are the Raptors won’t be passing Washington up anytime soon.