Raptors guard against complacency
On the bright side, the worst of the schedule is behind them.
Now, even with four “cupcake” — our word, not any member of the Raptors — games up next, other obstacles have appeared.
These are the dog days of basketball. The all- star break is still a month-plus away, bodies are pretty beaten up and, mentally, the players are a little drained.
Raptors head coach Dwane Casey has been through this rodeo many times before, but each time is a challenge to keep players focused and on task.
The next four opponents — Brooklyn, New York, Brooklyn again, and Philadelphia — all have losing records. While that may look like a positive to many, Casey just sees a potential pitfall.
“We can’t look at records when you’re in a hunt like we are, in a tight race like we are,” Casey said. “You have to go in and take care of business, play to your personality, stay focused.”
Point guard Cory Joseph refuses to look past any opponent.
“Play every game the same as far as the effort I am putting out there and that’s what you have to do in the games where people will look and say it’s easy to win these games,” Joseph said. “But those people ( saying it’s easy) may not play in the NBA. Every NBA player can play at any given time, in any given game, so if you don’t come ready to play, everybody has seen in the past you can lose games.”
As for the time of the year — post- holiday, pre- all- star break — Casey said it’s his job to keep the Raptors thinking and on their toes.
Casey keeps practices fresh, trying different things to keep the players engaged.
“You don’t watch as much film, don’t go as long in practice,” Casey said. “( Thursday) we had a good, brisk practice, didn’t watch any film. You try to change things up, freshen it up, try to add a few new things in, not gimmicks, but things you need to add offensively and defensively, whether it’s a zone or traps or whatever it is.”
Five games from now, the Raptors will see their next opponent with a winning record ( Charlotte is 20-19). First, it’s the NBA’s lesser teams to deal with. Some might suggest anything less than 4- 0 would be a disappointment. Casey definitely wants to get all four but he knows, better than most, that’s no guarantee.
Avoiding looking past any of those games while maintaining a professional approach is the task these next seven days.