We’ve had the NBA Cup now for a few seasons, and it’s not a secret that drumming up excitement for it has been… difficult. Now, public NBA Cup truther and SB Nation NBA manager Harrison Faigen has been preaching
about the NBA Cup since the LA Lakers won the first edition, and I never understood why… UNTIL NOW.
The Toronto Raptors are contenders in their pool for the first time, and this could be… FUN?
Since the inception of the NBA Cup, the league’s in-season tournament, which really doesn’t mean anything apart from making some extra money if you’re a player, the Raptors haven’t been good. It’s been tank city over here. Tanking so hard that even the idea of winning an NBA Cup was too much winning. Now? Now things are different.
Toronto is in Pool EAST A with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Indiana Pacers, Washington Wizards, and Atlanta Hawks. Their first game was against the Cavaliers, which they shockingly won, 112-101. Don’t remember? Fair, because it was during Game 6 of the World Series and you were likely watching the Blue Jays.
Thanks to Jamison Battle, the Raptors are 1-0 in NBA Cup play. They play the Atlanta Hawks on Friday night, and the winner will be 2-0 with a large point differential on top of that. Plus, neither team has played Washington (the forever tankers), and with that most likely being a win for both Atlanta and Toronto, the winner of tonight’s bout is likely to have an advantage.
Both Cleveland and Indiana are 0-1 in cup games, and Washington hasn’t played one, so if Toronto wins tonight, they will top the group at 2-0.
Now, let’s remember the last time the Raptors played the Atlanta Hawks. It was the first game of the season, when they trounced them 138-118, and Raptors fans thought we were seeing the shiny pearl gates of heaven. The Hawks virtually played no defence, and the Raptors have only improved since. Per Keerthika Uthayakumar, the Raptors have improved by holding teams to 101.7 points in their last three games, compared to the 127.8 points per game they allowed in their first five games:
Safe to say signs are pointing to the Raptors having the advantage to get ahead in the NBA Cup this year. Hopefully, the magic from the season opener can be repeated in Atlanta tonight.
So, what happens if the Raptors win their NBA Cup group?
Well, these days, the NBA only schedules each team 80 games per season to start with. Those final two games are determined by the results of the NBA Cup. In years past, when the Raptors were eliminated from Cup contention, they simply scheduled two games in that open week against two other losing teams.
If Toronto wins its group or does well enough to be one of the best second-place teams, they make it to the quarterfinals. The Cup quarters and semis will still count toward their regular-season record if they play both. If they lose the QF, they just make up a regular-season game with another losing team. The only game that won’t count toward the regular season would be if they made it to the Cup Final game. That’s a bonus one. None of the stats or scores will affect the Raptors’ season. They could win some cash, the trophy, a banner, and give me some bragging rights to Harrison (who cares about it more than anyone I’ve ever known).
Cup games are on Fridays and Wednesdays this year. After Atlanta on Friday night, the Raptors will still have to play Indiana and Washington to determine their fate in the tournament.
