The Toronto Raptors
The Heat will travel to Canada to face the Toronto Raptors at noon on Sunday. Currently in second place in the Eastern Conference and trailing the first place Milwaukee Bucks by three games, the Raptors are no less entrenched in their spot than the Sixers are in their own in the three seed.
They may even choose to rest some key players down the stretch, including this game, but the Raptors are one of the deepest teams in the league across the board so it may matter less than with other teams.
It wouldn’t be a big surprise to see the Raptors give Kawhi Leonard the game off. Leonard generally gets the second half of back-to-back games off, and this isn’t quite a back-to-back, but it’s close. The Raptors play Friday night at 7 PM on the road against the Hornets, and then return home for this Sunday noon start, so coach Nick Nurse may decide that this qualifies as a worthy rest day.
Leonard’s absence may not mean much in the end for the Raptors as their 16-5 record in games when he rests gives them a better winning percentage (76.1 percent) than when he plays (71.4 percent).
This will be the third meeting of the year between the two teams, and the Raptors have won both of the previous games.