Could The Toronto Raptors Make The Finals?

Sitting in second place in the Eastern Conferece, are the Finals a possibility for the Raptors?

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Heading into this season, the only way you could answer the titular question of this column is with a smirk and the words, “Hey – anything can happen, right?”

Last season, the Toronto Raptors reset their franchise record for wins and earned home-court advantage for the first round of the playoffs for the second year in a row. Four games later, their year was over, as the Washington Wizards walked into the ACC, took two on the Raptors home floor and then finished them off in D.C. to send them packing in the first round for the second consecutive season.

Even when the shuffled the lineup in the offseason, adding DeMarre Carroll and Cory Joseph and a couple others while allowing Amir Johnson to head to Boston, they still looked a slightly better version of the team that got bounced in the first round in back-to-back seasons. And besides, Cleveland was bringing back a team that gave the Golden State Warriors some issues early in the Finals despite not having Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving.

Now? Now you actually have to sit down and mull it over and you know what? They could.

As of this moment, the Raptors sit in second place in the Eastern Conference, three games back of the Cleveland Cavaliers and a game-and-a-half clear of the third-place Atlanta Hawks. They’ve won six straight, haven’t missed a beat even though Carroll is sidelined indefinitely following knee surgery and they’ve split a pair of games with the Cavs so far this season, so it’s not like it’s all that difficult to project them being one of the last team’s standing in the Eastern Conference.

And from there, all they need to do is win four of seven and it’s off to the Finals.

Yes, a lot of things need to come together in order for this to happen and jilted Toronto fans will be quick to point out that the team has only advanced beyond the first round once, but this isn’t as far-fetched as some people might think. While the East is better, it’s also still not that great in a weird way.

The Hawks aren’t as potent as they were last season (they miss Carroll a lot) and the fourth-place Chicago Bulls just lost Joakim Noah, could deal another big by the deadline and could implode as easily as they could excel. The No. 5 through No. 8 teams right now – Indiana, Detroit, Miami and Boston – could get hot and a Toronto vs. Miami match-up is scary, but all those squads feel like they have clear flaws and could be players at the deadline.

What happens at the deadline could have an impact, but barring a colossal collapse (knock on wood), the Raps are in position to earn home court again and they have the pieces to make a real run at it this year.

And it’s not like the Cavaliers are an unstoppable juggernaut this season either.

Yes, Cleveland is the top team in the East, LeBron is still LeBron and Kyrie and Love are healthy (for now), but they also got smashed in Portland the night after coming out flat in their Christmas Day Finals rematch with the Warriors. They’ve had bad games and are still dealing with rotation issues because Love doesn’t really fit, Timo Mozgov hasn’t been particularly good and Richard Jefferson plays nearly 20 minutes a night, so there are obvious cracks.

I still don’t necessarily like their depth and reliance on contested jump shots, but they’re playing exceptionally well right now and are making it work, so it’s hard to be down on them. Given that they’ve played reasonably well against the NBA’s elite, seeing them go deep into the playoffs isn’t hard to picture.

What’s crazy is that if Toronto doesn’t want to go all-in on this season and don’t believe they’ll be able to retain DeMar DeRozan in the offseason, the team could look very different than it does right now by the time the playoffs roll around, which would change their potential for making the Finals, obviously.

But if this group is kept together – or adds a couple bench pieces – they have the go deep into the playoffs and challenge for the Eastern Conference title.

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