Raptors move one step closer to securing playoff berth with big win over Cavs

TSN Raptors Reporter

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TORONTO – If the playoffs started this coming weekend, Raptors head coach Nick Nurse believes that his team would be ready to go.

You can understand where that confidence is coming from. These past couple months have been a crash course in playing meaningful basketball. They’ve dealt with adverse circumstances, gone toe-to-toe with some of the league’s elite, and grinded out unlikely wins in tough, competitive atmospheres. That’s as battle tested as it gets for a young and, in some cases, inexperienced team.

“I feel like we’ve seen enough and we’ve been through enough close games and coverages and planning against this kind of guy and that kind of guy,” Nurse said earlier this week. “I feel like we’ve experienced enough and we’re ready.”

Their NBA-best 10-5 record against the top-three teams from each conference speaks to how they’ve fared when punching above their weight class, something that they would need to do as a lower seed in the playoffs. The only thing is, they need to get there first, and they took another big step in that direction on Thursday.

After last year’s disappointing campaign in Tampa, and coming into this season with modest expectations, the Raptors are heading back to the post-season. With a big 117-104 win over Cleveland, they guaranteed their spot in the play-in tournament, at the very minimum. However, they’ve got their sights aimed higher than that.

At 41-32, they matched the Cavaliers’ record and moved into a virtual tie for sixth place and the final guaranteed playoff seed in the Eastern Conference. Chicago’s loss in New Orleans later in the evening meant they also pulled within one game of the fifth-place Bulls. While Cleveland and Chicago both own the