Just Lose, Baby!
Every March Dick Vitale bursts through your living room exclaiming, “Just win, baby!” While that’s the mantra for college teams this month, the Raptors mantra might be “Just lose, baby!”
Right now the Raptors sit six games behind Orlando for the third seed in the east and 1.5 games behind Cleveland for the fourth seed. The Washington Wizards are currently the sixth seed and, after a big win against Toronto last night, only find themselves three games back.
Which begs the question, would sliding down to the sixth seed to face Orlando in the first round be more beneficial than facing Cleveland in the first round?
In three games against Orlando so far this season Toronto is 1-2 but they seem to match-up well against them. This past week Toronto dropped a game which they had a chance to win until T.J. Ford attempted nine straight shots to open the fourth quarter and finished the game with seven turnovers. Add to the mix the fact that Chris Bosh was missing from action and it makes me believe Orlando could be a nice fit due to their relative playoff inexperience combined with Bosh having big games against them in the past.
Cleveland, on the other hand, is a nightmare. While this match-up would get us our games placed in primetime due to the LeBron James factor, we haven’t faired nearly as well against Cleveland this season. Toronto is 1-2 against Cleveland and their only win came when James missed the game. Also adding to my trepidation is the 39 points James hung on the Raptors during their last meeting when he single handedly won the game for Cleveland thanks to some fourth quarter heroics.
Besides, with Toronto having five west coast road games this week without the services of Chris Bosh, do they even stand a chance of winning any of those games besides the one against Sacramento? I hate to sound pessimistic but I doubt it. It seems like the best plan for success in the playoffs is to rest Bosh until he’s healthy and allow the team to sink in the standings down to the sixth seed.
While no player or coach would want to lose games – this stands true especially with the competitive and driven personnel assembled in Toronto – I can’t help but feel a mini losing skid might be beneficial for the franchise.
Personally, I’d rather see Toronto face Orlando in the first round, what do other Raptors fan think?
4 Comments on “Just Lose, Baby!”.
Have Your Say:
I’d definitely rather face Orlando if I was the Raptors. The X-factor that is LeBron is just too much for any team to take a chance with. When the man gets that look in his eyes, you know it’s over.
March 8, 2008 » 6:26 PM »
While I’d rather face Orlando, I have several problems with the notion that 6th is a better position for the Raps.
Foremost, it is a bad thing to suggest in general for a young and developing team. You really don’t want young players to ever consider losing. While I realize the team would never say they’re trying to lose, like you said, media attention alone may be enough to foster that belief.
Along the same lines, for a team with high expectations for the future, taking a sizable step backwards in Season 2 of the BC Era may be a bad feeling for the team and fans alike. They have worked hard to get to this point, and I’m cautious of them winning less than last year’s 47 games having a detrimental impact on the franchise.
Additionally, the Raptors probably aren’t getting out of the 2nd round regardless, so the potential ego and media downfalls of finishing 6th (behind a team that has been handcuffed by injuries and who’s superstar trashed your point guard) probably outweighs the slightly improved chance of getting to the 2nd round. Sure, they could probably take Orlando in 6, but we’d then run into Boston or Detroit regardless, an outcome that may be worse than a competitive loss to the Cavaliers in round 1.
I know your article (which was great, by the way) specifically said the Raptors wouldn’t do this, I’m just looking generally at how I feel a 6th seed would affect the team. In my mind, it’s always better to finish as strong as you can and let the chips fall where they may.
March 8, 2008 » 6:35 PM »
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March 9, 2008 » 10:13 AM »
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March 10, 2008 » 12:27 AM »