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Raptors hope to sweep season series from Heat

Apr 14, 2008 - 2:30 PM Miami (14-66) at Toronto (40-40) 7:00 pm EDT

TORONTO (Ticker) - Despite their best intentions, the Toronto Raptors have been fading down the stretch. They hope a meeting with a team struggling more than they are will get them back on the right track.

The Raptors look to tighten their grip on the sixth seed in the playoffs and finish off a sweep of their season series with the Miami Heat when the teams face each other at Air Canada Centre on Monday.

Toronto, which has lost 16 of its last 24 games, fell 91-84 to Detroit on Sunday even though the Pistons sat their regulars for the majority of the fourth quarter. The loss dropped the Raptors into a tie with Philadelphia (40-40) for the East's sixth seed with two games left.

Because Toronto owns the tiebreaker, it needs to make sure it matches Philadelphia down the stretch to avoid another meeting with the second-seeded Pistons in the playoffs. The Raptors are 1-3 against the Pistons this season while they are 1-2 against the third-seeded Magic, who they will play if they finish with in sixth place.

They have a decent chance to finish strong as they close out the season against lottery-bound teams Chicago on Wednesday and Miami, which lost for the ninth time in 10 games on Sunday in a 84-76 setback against Cleveland.

Ricky Davis finished with 17 points to pace the Heat, who actually led after three quarters before fading late.