Raptors host Hornets as they eye higher play-in seed on TSN
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Two days removed from their last bout with the Charlotte Hornets, the Toronto Raptors look to capture their second straight win against the LaMelo Ball-less team from Buzz City and continue to climb the Eastern Conference standings.
Led by Pascal Siakam's 36 points and Fred VanVleet's franchise record-setting 20 assists, the Raptors beat the undermanned Hornets 128-108 on Sunday to clinch a spot in the NBA play-in tournament – the team’s ninth postseason berth in 10 seasons and fourth under Nick Nurse.
Tied with the Atlanta Hawks for eighth place in the Eastern Conference with an identical 39-39 record, the Raptors have four games remaining in the 2022-23 season and an opportunity to move up in the standings and secure a better chance of advancing out of the play-in tournament.
The team finishing in eighth place needs just one victory in the play-in, whereas the team finishing ninth would need two wins to reach the postseason.
Following Tuesday's contest against the Hornets, the Raptors head to Boston for a two-game series against the second-placed Celtics and finish the regular season at home against Giannis Antetokounmpo and East-leading Milwaukee Bucks.
As for the Hawks, they take on the 10th-placed Chicago Bulls, the Washington Wizards, who are on the outside looking in, the Philadelphia 76ers and the Celtics.
The Hornets enter Tuesday's game on a two-game skid after downing the Dallas Mavericks twice during a five-game winning streak, led by Ukrainian product Svi Mykhailiuk.
The 25-year-old saw began this season with the New York Knicks before he was dealt to the Hornets as part of a four-team trade in February.
Mykhailiuk's first game as a member of the Hornets came against the lowly San Antonio Spurs on Feb. 15, when he scored 15 points in a Hornets' 120-110 win. Mykhailiuk has gone on to play in 29 games for the Hornets this season, averaging 5.7 points, 1.2 rebounds and 1.2 assists.
A Raptor in 2022, Mykhailiuk scored a season-high 26 points on 10-for-17 shooting from the floor against his former team Sunday night.