Sunday Showdown: Raptors – Bulls, Someone Want Eighth?

Talk about backing into the playoffs.

Two teams supposedly battling for the last playoff spot in the East.  Will one team please step up and take it!

Since the All-Star break, neither team has done anything to suggest that actually making the playoffs is important to them.  Equally there is nothing to suggest either will put up much of a fight if and when they do get there.

But playoffs are what most fans live for and they’ll take them any way they can get them.

The Bulls went into the All-Star at 25-26 and decided it was more important to dump salaries than make this year’s post-season.  The salary dumping was so important that they actually strengthened teams they would be fighting for playoff position with.

Surprisingly, the Bulls went 6-1 post All-Star break.  But without the depth they had held all season, when injury hit, they dropped 10 straight.

Recently the Bulls were showing signs of life again.  Of course that has vanished and the loss the woeful Nets seems to indicate that it was all a mirage.

The Toronto Raptors came into the All-Star break on a high.  A franchise record tying 29 wins and fifth place in the East would make one believe playoffs this season were a virtual certainty.

But when Chris Bosh went down with an injury in the first game back, the Raptors went on a 3-10 run encompassing losing streaks of four and five games to drop below a .500 record.

In April, the Raptors have been a woeful 1-5 and with Chris Bosh injured again, the Raptors playoff future should look bleak.

Chris Bosh has a fractured nose and jaw and will not even be re-assessed to play until after the regular season ends.

Compounding the Raptors problems are Hedo Turkoglu’s nose fracture and Antoine Wright’s sprained ankle.  While Turkoglu can play with a mask, Wright has been day-to-day for the last two games and re-injured the same foot.

Coming into Sunday’s game, both teams have roller-coasted their respective seasons to a 38-41 record

But since no one else in the East has bothered to take advantage of the situation, one of Chicago or Toronto will face Cleveland next weekend.

Toronto holds the tie-breaker courtesy of two earlier wins over the Bulls. Raptors won 99-89 on November 11 at the ACC and 110-78 on December 5 at the United Center.

And with the game between the Bulls and Raptors being played at the ACC where the Raptors are 24-15, perhaps the Bulls will finally escape the embarrassment of post-season play.

If Toronto wins the game on the Sunday, it will take only one more Raptors win or Bulls loss to hand Toronto the eighth and final playoff spot.

But if Chicago wins, the Bulls need a 3-0 finish to the season if they are to guarantee that they will capture the “coveted” playoff spot.

And Chicago has by far the toughest road ahead of the two teams.

While Toronto finishes the season playing Detroit at the Palace on the back-to-back after the Bulls game and then New York at home.  Chicago will be playing a Boston team at home and Charlotte on the road.

Boston is likely to still be fighting for third in the East and Charlotte will likely want some measure of revenge for the loss in Chicago earlier this month.

So while the game on Sunday will play a huge part in determining which of these two less than deserving teams reach the playoffs, it is highly possible the final outcome will not be determined until the last day of the regular season.

And what more could the fans want?

Both the Bulls and the Raptors may have been handed a chance to secure a playoff berth in the final game of the season.  And while players might like to get there any way that they can.  This is special.

Watching your team go for a playoff spot in their final game is a rare event that can make up a season’s worth of disappointments.

That’s excitement the fans of both these teams deserve.