Reply to thread

Message

[QUOTE="jncuse, post: 3179004, member: 1969"]
The Celtics could certainly still finish 4th,  I don't think their is anything silly about claiming that right now.

Strong cases can be made for Milwaukee and Philly obviously, but also the Raptors right now have been about as good as the Celtics.

The Raptors are 3-1 on a western swing, without having Ibaka and Lowry for 4 games, and without having Anunoby for 3 games.   That is 3 of their top 7 in their rotation, and Masai Ujiri may have done it again in finding key bench pieces.  (Although it took injuries for Nurse to have to trust them -- which is a good thing, but he was running the top 7 way too hard)

The Raptors were not losers before Kawhi -- but they needed a Kawhi to win the title, and don't have that this year. But regular season wise,  They were 17-5 without him last year.  They won 51, 56, and 59 games in the 3 seasons pre Kawhi.  The current star scorer Pascal Siakam, is very likely to be more efficient than Demar Derozan.  Kyle Lowry is not what he was 2 or 3 years ago, but Van Vleet is better.  The bench seemed much weaker however this year, but now that Roberts, Boucher, and RHJ stepped up this road trip, they may have 10 reliable players.

Not to say that I think the Raptors are better than the Celtics, or that they will finish ahead of them. I think it's quite close.  I could see the top 4 in the East all having more than 53 wins this year.
[/QUOTE]

Verification

What is a Syracuse fan's favorite color?