Excuse-making surrounding Raptors must end following Sunday's season finale

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Sunday marks the official end of the NBA’s regular season, even though the end for many teams unofficially came to its conclusion months ago.

It also tips off the beginning for the league’s non-playoff teams to dream about the May 12 draft lottery and all its probabilities knowing the eventual prize is Duke’s Cooper Flagg.

In the NBA’s East Division, the playoff picture is as clear as day.

Out West, the picture is as clear as mud with a handful of teams in control of their own destiny, while others at the mercy of results completely out of their control.

In Denver, the Nuggets, who parted ways with head coach Michael Malone on Tuesday, know that a win over the Houston Rockets, (who are already locked into the No. 2 seed) makes them the No. 4 seed.

In the Bay Area, the Warriors are treating their date against the L.A. Clippers with the utmost importance. The winner avoids the play-in tournament.

“I don’t want to be too dramatic,” Golden State’s Steph Curry told reporters. “It should be like a Game 7 kind of vibe. You win and you control your destiny on a guaranteed playoffs series. If you lose, you roll the dice.”

The Dubs could fall into seventh, and have to take part in the play-in tournament, if they lose to the red-hot Clips.

L.A. can finish as high as fourth, but will require a Nuggets loss.

If both the Clippers and Nuggets win, they will meet one another in the first round.

In Minnesota, the Timberwolves are aware of the reward that awaits if it does what it should do in beating a bad Utah team.

A win over the Jazz and Minny grabs the No. 6 slot.

If both the Nuggets and Clippers lose, a Minny win will vault the T’Wolves into the No. 4 seed.

The permutations out West are many, the drama on closing day expected to be high with the stakes at their greatest.

As a refresher, Sunday’s season-ending platform will feature a slate of 15 games. In other words, all 30 teams will be action, and that includes, regrettably, the Raptors, whose lost season officially comes to its merciful end.

Too much space has been wasted on the team’s young group and far too much air time from virtually all of the team-friendly talking heads when everyone knows a reality check is in order.

Management botched its tank job, and any inroads made by these handful of rookies came in games that meant absolutely nothing against some of the most moribund teams the NBA has perhaps ever seen.

What Sunday’s end must signify is the end of the endless excuses and countless losses.

If lady luck does befall the Raptors on May 12, it will be all forgotten.

The odds don’t favour the Raptors, who will pivot into an off-season, if they haven’t already, as a new regular season begins this fall.

With the 30th anniversary season about to end, it would be poetic if the 31st season were to begin with Michael Malone as the Raptors’ head coach.

The team’s first coach was his dad, the legendary Brendan Malone, a basketball lifer who passed away two years ago.

Much like his father, Michael Malone is a disciplinarian who does not toe the company line.

He’s a winner who led Denver to its first title in 2023.

The Raptors need a hard-nosed head coach to take Scottie Barnes to that next level.

He would be the ideal head coach in Toronto, but it won’t happen.

What must happen is for the Raptors to play meaningful games for the first time in what seems like an eternity.

If you rewind the clock, the Raptors went 2-19 to end last season. Injuries struck the likes of Barnes and Jakob Poeltl, combined with devastating family losses to RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley.

One has to go back to the 2022-23 to find a time when games actually mattered.

Even then, the Raptors went a mediocre 41-41 and lost at home to the Chicago Bulls in the play-in.

One glance at the boxscore and one will find only three players remaining with the Raptors in Barnes, Poeltl and Chris Boucher, a pending free agent who is not expected to return.

One has to be hard-pressed to find any game of consequence this season, which makes Sunday’s tip in San Antonio a complete waste of time and energy.

The 30th anniversary was nostalgic as a parade of former players was feted in front of the home crowd, it proved historical when Vince Carter’s No. 15 jersey was raised to the rafters, each providing a much-needed distraction from the onerous on-court product.

Sunday is the symbolic turning of the page.

For many players on the current roster, it could be the end of their tenure in Toronto.

Every ending marks the beginning of something, but what that something entails remains to be seen.

Sunday’s ending must represent the end to this extended stretch of losing.

Once Sunday’s season finale is officially in the books, the clock officially ticks.

The Raptors can no longer be this franchise that twists in the wind.

Love it or hate it, but the acquisition of Brandon Ingram was necessary for a variety of reasons.

If healthy, the 2024-25 version of the Raptors will be good, perhaps good enough to at least compete for a top-six spot.

The Raptors have not been good for a handful of years, which is why Sunday’s end couldn’t have arrived soon enough.

fzicarelli@postmedia.com