The Toronto Raptors can clinch a top-six playoff spot with a win on Sunday night against the visiting Brooklyn Nets in the teams’ regular-season finale.
The Raptors (45-36) dropped to sixth — the final guaranteed playoff spot — in the Eastern Conference on Friday night with a 112-95 road loss to the New York Knicks.
Toronto could finish fifth if it beats the Nets and if both the Atlanta Hawks and Orlando Magic lose.
“All antennas are up, one game to go, the final of the season,” Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic said. “We’ve got to find the best focus, the best version of ourselves. We have to be at the peak of our performance for that game.”
The Raptors have won two of three against the Nets (20-61) this season. The Nets’ win over the Raptors came in their most recent meeting, 96-81, on Dec. 21.
The Nets have dropped two games in a row, most recently a 125-108 road loss to Milwaukee Bucks on Friday. The losses followed two straight wins.
Tyson Etienne led the Nets with a career-best 23 points, shooting 6-for-12 from 3-point range. Malachi Smith had 19 points, eight rebounds and 10 assists. He was 5-for-7 from long range.
If the Raptors finish sixth, they would face the third-seeded Knicks in the first round of the playoffs, a difficult draw. The Knicks have defeated the Raptors in 13 consecutive games, including five times this season.
As for the Nets, they sit third in the lottery standings.
“This year was rough obviously,” said Nets center Nic Claxton, who did not play Friday because of a sprained finger. “So we’ve got (one more game), we flush that out, we get back to the drawing board this summer, and we go from there. Obviously, everybody, we want to be in a winning situation. We all want to win, so that’s what we’re striving to get back to. And whatever we need to do to get back to that process as quickly as we can, that’s what we’ll do.”
The Raptors could have clinched at least a sixth-place finish by winning Friday. Their downfall was the second quarter, when they were outscored 29-15.
“I thought we were there the whole game, competing,” Rajakovic said. “We had a couple of opportunities to get completely back in the game. Unfortunately, the ball bounced their way tonight. I thought the first quarter was very, very competitive. I thought defensively we did a very good job. On offense we can do a better job of setting screens, freeing up teammates so we can create some flow on the offensive end.”
Toronto played without Immanuel Quickley (foot injury management), Collin Murray-Boyles (neck sprain) and RJ Barrett (sore right knee). Barrett was a late scratch.
Reserve Sandro Mamukelashvili led Toronto scoring with 17 points. Brandon Ingram scored 16, and Scottie Barnes and Ja’Kobe Walter recorded 15 points apiece.
Rajakovic reached 100 total wins with the Raptors with a victory over Miami on Thursday.
Ingram has been a key player this season in the Raptors’ improvement, and he credited Rajakovic.
“He holds me accountable on and off the floor,” Ingram said. “He tells me what I need to do, whether I want to hear it or not. He’s made me a better defender. He’s made me care about that side of the basketball more, and on the offensive end, he just wants the best for me, and he’s there to communicate.”
–Field Level Media
