NBA Playoffs 2017: Power ranking all 16 playoff teams

5. Toronto Raptors

This is what having a top-10 offense and defense while finishing the year strong gets the Raptors. The highest Eastern Conference spot in power rankings! Does this do them any benefits in actual seeding? Not at all!

The Raptors’ mid-season trades for Serge Ibaka and P.J. Tucker hve revived their defense. With Kyle Lowry coming back and some strong play to finish the year they find themselves in great positioning to challenge the Cavs in a playoff series. The only other teams that can say they’re top 10 on both sides of the ball are San Antonio and Golden State. That’s a great class to be in and one the Raptors should be quite proud of.

However, like the Clippers, they have a lot to prove this postseason. DeMar DeRozan and Lowry have struggled in previous postseasons and the Raptors offense has been known to sputter come playoff time. They have the defense to back it up this year, but Toronto will have to prove that they can actually contend with Cleveland by finishing off their first round opponent early. That won’t be easy considering it’s a strong Bucks team, but they have to show last year wasn’t just a fluke. It’s not an uncommon opinion that a healthy Heat team beats Toronto in the playoffs last year.

Still, this is the best Raptors team yet and there’s a lot to be excited about here. They just need to prove it’s for real. That means big performances from not only Toronto’s role players, but Lowry and DeRozan themselves. Show the world their offense can work in the playoffs.