The Raptors are perfectly poised to finish with a flourish.
Of their final nine regular-season games, eight are against Eastern Conference teams with less than .500 records and the only one against a winning team comes in what could be a virtually meaningless game for the Detroit Pistons in the final week of the season. And compared to last year, when they solidified their standing in the first week of April and coasted into the playoffs, Toronto may be forced to ride its starters the entire way and be going good heading into the post-season.
Chris Bosh, who sat out one of the final regular season games a year ago, is working his way back into shape after missing 15 games and he should benefit from an increased workload in the final nine games.
The "easy" part of the schedule includes two games against Charlotte and one against Miami as the Raptors get what should be some easy touches.
HORNETS 118, RAPTORS 111: A sellout crowd got a demonstration in just how the Hornets got to be 50-22 and atop the conference Sunday as Chris Paul, David West and Peja Stojakovic shredded the Raptor defense with ease.
Shooting 61 percent from the field, the Hornets got 20 points and 16 assists from Paul, 32 points from West and 25 from Stojakovic, a point guard-power forward-small forward combination that was impossible to stop.
Chris Bosh only had to endure 30 minutes of the debacle, getting some extended rest before Toronto travels to Charlotte for a game on Monday night and led the Raptors with 21 points.
A group of Toronto backups -- Jose Calderon, Carlos Delfino, Jamario Moon, Kris Humphries and newly-signed Linton Johnson -- put on a stirring comeback, though, that gave the game some juice down the stretch.
With Toronto down as many as 24, the five got the Raptors back within six in the final two minutes before the Hornets hung on.
