The regular-season accolades for the 2017-2018 Toronto Raptors are tremendous. Top seed in the Eastern Conference and the Atlantic Division. A franchise record for wins at 59-23. A 34-7 home record.
"Journey's not over. Next question," Kyle Lowry on those accomplishments. "It's gratification but you're not satisfied, that's the way I like to put it," Toronto Coach Dwane Casey said. "We haven't got to where our ultimate goal is."
Good.
The Raptors got to the second round last year, the conference finals in 2016. Yes, this is the 5th straight trip to the playoffs. But the Raptors have loftier goals, especially getting past LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. This year, the playoffs start with the Washington Wizards.
The team is led by the guard tandem of Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan along with Jonas Valanciunas and Serge Ibaka. The Raptors get a lot of help from the "Bench Mob" with Fred VanVleet, in only his second year, along with Delon Wright, Jakob Poeltl, Pascal Siakam, and C.J. Miles.
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The Toronto Raptors do have one fascinating playoff curse. No matter how good this team is, winning Game 1 feels almost impossible. Maybe 2018 will be the year for a victory in Game 1. May the Raptors have 4 chances to make that happen in 2018.
TSN and Rogers Sportsnet will continue the tradition of splitting Raptors playoff games. TSN will take Games 2, 3, and 5 while Rogers has 1, 4, and 6. Games 1 and 4 will be on Rogers Sportsnet One. Raptors-Wizards will float between channels but every game will be on U.S. television.
2018 NBA Playoffs
Eastern Conference
| (1) Toronto vs. (8) Washington Series tied 0-0 |
|||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Location | Time | U.S. TV | Cdn TV | |||||||||||||
| April 14 | @ Toronto | 5:30p | ESPN | SN One | |||||||||||||
| April 17 | @ Toronto | 7p | NBA TV | TSN | |||||||||||||
| April 20 | @ Washington | 8p | ESPN2 | TSN | |||||||||||||
| April 22 | @ Washington | 6p | TNT | SN One | |||||||||||||
| April 25 | @ Toronto+ | 7p | NBA TV | TSN | |||||||||||||
| April 27 | @ Washington+ | 7p | ESPNews/NBA TV | SN One | |||||||||||||
| April 29 | @ Toronto+ | TBD | xxxx | TBD | |||||||||||||
Times are Eastern Daylight
+ if needed
Miami, Milwaukee, and Washington were all in the mix to be the Raptors opponent. With the loss on the final day to Miami, Toronto draws the Washington Wizards. 2015 wasn't so long ago for the Raptors, swept in 4 straight in the first round that year. The Raptors are a much more seasoned playoff team since then.
Toronto and Washington each took a home win and a road win in the season series. Wizards top point guard John Wall did not play against the Raptors in the regular season after being out for stretches due to a knee injury.
With all of the last-week shuffles in playoff positioning, provided the Raptors advance past the Wizards, Toronto draws either Cleveland (#4) or Indiana (#5). The NBA does not re-seed between rounds.
Toronto Raptors playoff history
| 2018 | Washington | 0-0 |
| 2017 | Cleveland | 0-4 |
| 2017 | Milwaukee | 4-2 |
| 2016 | Cleveland | 2-4 |
| 2016 | Miami | 4-3 |
| 2016 | Indiana | 4-3 |
| 2015 | Washington | 0-4 |
| 2014 | Brooklyn | 3-4 |
| 2008 | Orlando | 1-4 |
| 2007 | New Jersey | 2-4 |
| 2002 | Detroit | 2-3 |
| 2001 | Philadelphia | 3-4 |
| 2001 | New York | 3-2 |
| 2000 | New York | 0-3 |
photo credit: NBA.com
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