Every game counts in this contested battle for the Eastern Conference standings, and back-to-back games against the Heat will be extremely important for deciding if the Raptors make the playoffs.
On Tuesday night, the Toronto Raptors head back home to Scotiabank Arena to face the Miami Heat in a highly anticipated matchup for the standings watch. The Raptors currently sit in the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference after the Philadelphia 76ers lost to the San Antonio Spurs, but are just two games ahead of the Heat for the 10th seed, the final spot in the Play-In Tournament.
More importantly, the Raptors are back in a position to control their own destiny to end the regular season with just four games remaining. While they are only two games from the bottom of the Play-In, they are also just half a game ahead of the 76ers, Charlotte Hornets, and Orlando Magic, who all sit in a tie for seventh. The only team of the four under Toronto that holds the tiebreaker over the Raptors is the 76ers, which may end up extremely important when determining the matchups in the Play-In.
Toronto Raptors guard/forward Brandon Ingram (3) | © John E. Sokolowski-Imagn ImagesThe quest to maintaining the sixth seed begins tonight for the Raptors, playing a team against whom they are 2-0 this season. After three losses in the last four games, including a 115-101 defeat to the Boston Celtics on Easter Sunday, Toronto must play its best basketball to end the season to build momentum going into the postseason.
According to the official NBA injury report, the Raptors have both good and bad news heading into the important contest.
Starting point guard Immanuel Quickley is listed as questionable to return to action after missing the last eight games with plantar fasciitis in his right foot. Joining him with questionable tags are backup front-court members Collin Murray-Boyles (right quad contusion) and Sandro Mamukelashvili (left knee soreness).
Receiving the news that Quickley is questionable is great news because he had previously been listed as out in the initial injury report for every game since picking up the injury. On the contrary, seeing Murray-Boyles listed on the injury report yet again, and with a different injury, is somewhat disheartening. This is especially considering his stellar play over the last four games since returning from an 11-game absence to a left thumb sprain and one-game absence to back spasms. The severity of quad contusions varies greatly, but given that he’s questionable, it seems he shouldn’t be out for an extended period of time if he is forced to sit on the sidelines tonight.
Mamukelashvili being listed with soreness shouldn’t be too alarming; he’s missed just two games all season, so it would be surprising to see him take the night off given the circumstances. He has provided consistent bench scoring that the Raptors have greatly needed all season long, so if he is out, his absence may force the starters to play more minutes just to keep the ball going in the hoop.