Ranking Potential Playoff Opponents For The Toronto Raptors

The Toronto Raptors are looking to make it out of the first round for the first time in the DeMar DeRoza era, but which team would present the most favorable path to that goal?

Despite having the most successful regular season in franchise history, there are still those that refuse to buy in to what the Toronto Raptors are doing until they see them succeed in the playoffs.

The last two seasons have seen the Raptors blow a 3-2 series lead to the Brooklyn Nets, followed by being swept by the Washington Wizards, a team that the Raptors had handled relatively easily in the regular season.

So when we look ahead to this year’s playoffs, there’s still a lot left to be determined when it comes to playoff seeding. The Cleveland Cavaliers and Toronto Raptors have records that cannot be reached by the rest of the Eastern Conference with so few games remaining in the regular season.

But the third seed is only separated by four losses from the ninth seed going into the Easter weekend, so the foe that will try to prevent the Raptors from getting over the hump and advancing to the second round is still yet to be determined.

There are several factors to consider when determining how much of a challenge each team would be when looking ahead to the playoffs.

Does the team have a superstar that can take a series over? Do they play at a pace that would be disruptive to the Raptors? Is there bad blood between the teams, or have they maintained a mental edge over the squad for some time? We look ahead and rank which teams the Raptors could face in the playoffs from most to least desirable.

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