Now comes the harder part. After toying with the likes of the Los Angeles Clippers, Milwaukee Bucks and Oklahoma City Thunder -- three teams with as little to play for as the Raptors do -- Toronto has a chance to test itself against a team with something on the line.
The Chicago Bulls, in a dogfight for the final three playoff spots in the Eastern Conference, are in Toronto on Sunday afternoon, a game that represents one of the few significant contests left on the schedule for the Raptors. No one connected with team wants to talk about playing the role of "spoiler" because it tends to downplay games against teams that are going nowhere. But in this case with the Raptors, it's not something they can do, anyway. Almost have of their remaining 10 games -- two each with the Knicks and Wizards, one with Indiana -- are against teams that have nothing at all to play for, and Atlanta is locked into the fourth spot, so that one means nothing. And by the time they get to Indy and Chicago in the last week, those will probably be inconsequential, too.
RAPTORS 112, THUNDER 96: Chris Bosh had 21 points, Shawn Marion added 20 and Toronto rolled to its third straight victory.
Three wins in a row represents the hottest streak the Raptors have been on all season and they can make it four Sunday against the Chicago Bulls.
Four other Raptors were in double-figures against the Thunder as the Raptors used a huge advantage on the boards (54-37, the biggest discrepancy in a game this year) to win easily. Bosh added 13 rebounds and Marion had 11 as both Toronto players had double-doubles.
