Raptors Report Week 23: Season Far From Over

Sunday night I attended the most painful Raptors game of my life. Watching from the stands, praying on the Raptors, nothing seemed to go right.

The basketball gods have spoken, they don't want the Raptors in the playoffs. Or maybe that's just the NBA's commissioner, David Stern.

The Raptors had an absolutely horrible week, getting destroyed four times in a row. This team is now one full game back from the Bulls for that final playoff spot.

And with two games left in the season, the Raps are in big trouble. Frankly, the Raptors are lucky to still be in the race with the Bulls losing to the New Jersey Nets Friday night.

The Bulls face a Boston Celtics team who is actually fighting for something so this could be a tough opponent for them. Then, they face the Charlotte Bobcats, who don't have much to play for because they are currently stuck at 7th and can't go anywhere.

The Raptors have two winnable games coming up against the Pistons and the Knicks. So if the Raptors can manage to win both of those, they have a good chance for the playoffs.

So even if the Raptors make the playoffs, what's the point? Getting swept in four games isn't going to be fun. But I'll tell you something. Experience will be gained. And that's important.

And hey, we might get to see Bosh in a Raptors uniform for the last time. And most importantly, it's the playoffs. Anything can happen.

Record: 0-4

Performance on a scale of 1-10 : 4.5

Positives

I was refraining myself from saying "nothing," but there were some spots of encouragement. The Raptors played some tough teams and hung around without their star player Chris Bosh.

Do they have any hope to be a playoff team without Bosh for a full season? No. But at least this shows something encouraging.

Negatives

Chris Bosh's injury was possibly the end to our season. And then went down Hedo Turkoglu, who is thankfully okay, and Antoine Wright who is day to day.

Without Bosh, our lack of depth at the big man position was exposed, and our offense could never really get going.

Andrea Bargnani struggled big time, and Hedo Turkoglu couldn't help carry the offense without Bosh. And it's not like the defense was something out of the ordinary.

So, what now for the Raptors. They have let this season completely slide away from them, moving from fifth in the East to ninth, and hopefully we can win these two upcoming games and at least make the playoffs.

GO RAPS!