{"id":316516,"date":"2026-04-10T18:48:46","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T13:18:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/?p=316516"},"modified":"2026-04-10T18:48:46","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T13:18:46","slug":"ingram-raptors-focused-on-clinching-playoff-spot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/2026\/04\/10\/ingram-raptors-focused-on-clinching-playoff-spot\/","title":{"rendered":"Ingram, Raptors focused on clinching playoff spot"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p>TORONTO \u2013 All season the Toronto Raptors have insisted that they don\u2019t check the standings, the schedule, or the out-of-town scoreboard.<\/p>\n<p>Because the regular season began to wind down, nevertheless, a handful of Raptors admitted to peeking on the Eastern Conference standings to see how close they&#8217;re to clinching a playoff spot.<\/p>\n<p>Except Brandon Ingram, who claims he\u2019s shutting out the world now greater than ever.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re getting closer and closer to what we would like at the top of the season. We just take it game by game,\u201d he said after Toronto beat the Miami Heat 128-114 on Thursday night. \u201cI ended taking a look at the standings and I just deal with how I could be my best self on any given night and just proceed to be aggressive, find my teammates after they\u2019re open and get some defensive stops.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"c-ad c-ad--bigbox l-article__ad c-ad--tallSticky\">\n<p>Story continues below commercial<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Ingram had a season-high 38 points and added seven rebounds and 7 assists because the Raptors won each games of the back-to-back against the Heat. Toronto (45-35) moved into fifth within the standings ahead of the idle Atlanta Hawks.<\/p>\n<div class=\"l-article__part\" data-shortcode=\"related_videos\">\n<div class=\"l-inlineStories l-inlineStories--video\">\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"l-inlineStories__title\">Related Videos<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<section id=\"miniplayer-carousel\" class=\"l-videoCarousel l-videoCarousel--embed c-carousel\" data-video-carousel-play-inline=\"true\" data-video-carousel-init=\"false\" aria-label=\"Video carousel contains 10 videos.\">\n<div class=\"l-videoCarousel__inner\">\n<div class=\"l-videoCarousel__featured\">\n<div class=\"c-video c-videoPlay \" data-iframe-receiver=\"\" data-autoplay=\"\" data-displayinline-featured=\"true\" data-displayinline-type=\"video\" data-displayinline-player-id=\"miniplayer\" data-displayinline-video-id=\"11736470\" data-displayinline-ratio=\"16:9\" data-displayinline=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/video\/embed\/playlist\/11736470,11520120,11519608,11499192,11272226,11267415,11265148,11264380,11194605,11009057\/?poster=https%3A%2F%2Fi0.wp.com%2Fmedia.globalnews.ca%2Fvideostatic%2Fnews%2Fi1cz8nprrt-1lb2c4wke3%2FRAPTORS_FAN_DAY_VMS.jpg%3Fw%3D1200%26quality%3D70%26strip%3Dall#autoplay&#038;stickyiframe=miniplayer\" data-displayinline-playlist=\"11736470,11520120,11519608,11499192,11272226,11267415,11265148,11264380,11194605,11009057\" data-displayinline-sticky=\"true\" data-permutive-data='{\"content\":{\"name\":\"Toronto Raptors hold annual March break fan day at Scotiabank Arena\",\"type\":\"video\",\"sections\":[\"videos\",\"barrie\",\"durham\",\"guelph\",\"hamilton\",\"kingston\",\"kitchener\",\"london\",\"national\",\"ottawa\",\"peterborough\",\"toronto\",\"canada\",\"sports\"],\"keywords\":[\"acc\",\"basketballs\",\"canadian-tire\",\"good-news\",\"jurassic-park\",\"nba\",\"nba-fan-days\",\"ontario\",\"raps\",\"raptors\",\"raptors-fan-day\",\"scotiabank-arena\",\"short-clip\",\"toronto-raptors\"],\"iab\":{\"categories\":[\"Sports\/Team Sports\/Basketball\",\"News\",\"Sports\",\"News\/Sports News\",\"Sports\/Team Sports\"],\"tags\":[\"Atlanta\",\"Atlanta Hawks\",\"Ball\",\"Basketball\",\"Brandon Ingram\",\"Brooklyn\",\"Brooklyn Nets\",\"Darko Rajakoviu0107\",\"Eastern Conference (NBA)\",\"Miami\",\"Miami Heat\",\"National Basketball Association\",\"New York City\",\"New York Knicks\",\"Pelle Larsson\",\"Personal foul (basketball)\",\"Playoffs\",\"Rebound (basketball)\",\"Scoreboard\",\"Scottie Barnes\",\"The Canadian Press\",\"Toronto\",\"Toronto Raptors\",\"Tyler Herro\"]}}}'>\n<div class=\"c-video__inner \">\n\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"c-video__placeholder\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-video__image\" alt=\"Click to play video: 'Toronto Raptors hold annual March break fan day at Scotiabank Arena'\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/media.globalnews.ca\/videostatic\/news\/i1cz8nprrt-1lb2c4wke3\/RAPTORS_FAN_DAY_VMS.jpg?w=1040&#038;quality=70&#038;strip=all\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"\" sizes=\"auto, \" data-sizes=\"(min-width: 1040px) 1040px,(min-width: 720px) 720px,450px\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"c-video__overlay\"><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<time class=\"c-video__duration\">1:08<\/time><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"c-video__title\">Toronto Raptors hold annual March break fan day at Scotiabank Arena<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"l-videoCarousel__glide glide \">\n<div class=\"glide__arrows c-carousel__buttons l-videoCarousel__buttons\" data-glide-el=\"controls\">\n\t<button class=\"glide__arrow glide__arrow--left c-carousel__button c-carousel__prev l-videoCarousel__button l-videoCarousel__prev c-longform-gallery__prev\" data-glide-dir=\"<\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t<span class=\"sr-only\">Previous Video<\/span><br \/>\n\t<\/button><br \/>\n\t<button class=\"glide__arrow glide__arrow--right c-carousel__button c-carousel__next l-videoCarousel__button l-videoCarousel__next c-longform-gallery__next\" data-glide-dir=\">&#8220;><\/p>\n<p>\t\t<span class=\"sr-only\">Next Video<\/span><br \/>\n\t<\/button><br \/>\n\t\t<button class=\"c-carousel__goto\" data-glide-dir=\"=0\" aria-hidden=\"true\" tabindex=\"-1\"><\/button>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\t\t<!-- video stream item --><\/p>\n<\/section><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Although the 2 teams have similar records, the Raptors are ahead of Atlanta based off of tiebreakers.<\/p>\n<div class=\"c-inlineSignup\" data-newsletter-inline=\"\">\n<div class=\"c-inlineSignup__image\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"170\" height=\"225\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/wp-content\/themes\/shaw-globalnews\/images\/skyline\/national.jpg\" alt=\"Get breaking Canada news delivered to your inbox as it happens so you won't miss a trending story.\">\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"c-inlineSignup__content\">\n<h2 class=\"c-inlineSignup__title\">Get breaking National news<\/h2>\n<p>Get breaking Canada news delivered to your inbox because it happens so you will not miss a trending story.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Toronto visits the Latest York Knicks on Friday and can host the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday in each teams\u2019 regular-season finale. Winning either game will clinch the Raptors\u2019 first playoff berth in 4 years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a very good time to be in a rhythm going into these playoffs,\u201d said Ingram of his standout performance. \u201cWe take it game by game, attempt to recuperate, attempt to determine what schemes we would like to do for the playoffs, and the way will we attack every game and have a way of urgency on either side of the basketball.<\/p>\n<div class=\"c-ad c-ad--bigbox l-article__ad c-ad--tallSticky\">\n<p>Story continues below commercial<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\u201cI believe these last two games, it\u2019s a likelihood for us to have a spotlight and take things serious, leading them as much as and into the playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>All-star Scottie Barnes got into early foul trouble against the Heat but Ingram stepped up.<\/p>\n<p>He played aggressively in the primary half, forcing the Heat to double- or triple-team him on defence, opening up scoring opportunities for his Toronto teammates. Ingram had 10 points in the primary quarter and 13 within the second.<\/p>\n<div class=\"c-tabs\">\n<p>\n\t\t\t<button role=\"tab\" class=\"c-tabs__tab c-tabs__tab--active\" type=\"button\">More on Sports<\/button><br \/>\n\t\t\t<button role=\"tab\" class=\"c-tabs__tab\" type=\"button\">More videos<\/button>\n\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Ingram said he knew he needed to play with force.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve beat them 3 times this yr, so coming out early in that game, we knew they were going to provide us their best hit, and we had to reply defensively and offensively,\u201d said Ingram. \u201cTyler Herro got here out gunning and made a number of shots, and everybody was in attack mode so we needed to find a way to resist the primary run and just fight back.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Head coach Darko Rajakovic said that Ingram might actually regret such a powerful showing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow he\u2019s in trouble,\u201d said Rajakovic with a smile. \u201cNow we all know what he can do, so we\u2019re going to expect it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ignoring the standings and specializing in playing one game at a time was Rajakovic\u2019s edict, one which he\u2019s still sticking with. Asked what his expectations were heading into the decisive weekend, he wouldn\u2019t even look beyond the following 24 hours.<\/p>\n<div class=\"c-ad c-ad--bigbox l-article__ad c-ad--tallSticky\">\n<p>Story continues below commercial<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re going to attempt to beat Miami to the airport because our flights are at the identical time,\u201d said Rajakovic to laughter. \u201cThen we go to Latest York and compete the most effective we will against Latest York.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 10, 2026.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>\n\t\t&#038;copy 2026 The Canadian Press\t<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>TORONTO \u2013 All season the Toronto Raptors have insisted that they don\u2019t check the standings, the schedule, or the out-of-town scoreboard. Because the regular season began to wind down, nevertheless, a handful of Raptors admitted to peeking on the Eastern Conference standings to see how close they&#8217;re to clinching a playoff spot. Except Brandon Ingram, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":316517,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[338],"tags":[50268,5642,24239,2441,3491,3399],"class_list":["post-316516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-clinching","tag-focused","tag-ingram","tag-playoff","tag-raptors","tag-spot"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=316516"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316516\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":316519,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316516\/revisions\/316519"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/316517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=316516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=316516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=316516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}