Defence does not rest yet for Raps

Each NBA season is full of rather predictable moments. It could be struggling in the altitude in Denver and Utah, not having it in the fourth quarter at the end of a long trip against a rested team, or good teams losing to awful clubs in the dog days of a long season.

Another typical one is struggling in the first game at home following multigame trips to other time zones. How many times have you seen teams lay an egg right off the bat, even against mediocre opponents?

Raptors coach Dwane Casey has seen it too many times to count over his decades in the NBA, which is why he is a little wary ahead of Monday’s game against the Philadelphia 76ers.

“I’m looking for that bear coming around the corner always, that’s kind of a coaches’ mentality,” Casey said Sunday after Toronto’s first practice at home in two weeks.

“On the road you’ve been edgy, you’ve been uptight, you get that you-against-theworld mentality, now you come home, to the comforts of home and relax,” warned the coach. “We can’t do that. We’ve got some good teams coming in, a young, athletic Philly team coming in … Memphis (Wednesday) playing well, Lakers (Friday) playing well, Atlanta (on Saturday, completing a rare home back-to-back). So, this is going to be a tough homestand, it’s not going to be a piece of cake.”

You’ve probably heard what the focus of this homestand will be, since Casey and the players have repeated it incessantly: Figuring out how to defend at an acceptable level again. Only two Eastern Conference squads have defended worse than Casey’s squad this year (along with three in the West), with paint penetration and fouling being two particular issues so far.

The defence has actually been decent at home, with the Raptors surrendering a reasonable 103 points per 100 possessions at the ACC, vs. a poor 108.6 away.

That could be due to a number of factors, but Casey and his players are looking for a renewed commitment to defending.

Having Philadelphia (last offensively), Memphis (26th) and Atlanta (21st) among the teams coming in this week should be quite helpful in that regard.

DeMarre Carroll is hopeful that the balancing out of the schedule after the earlyseason grind will lead to good things for the Raptors.

“It’s a very tough schedule and I think we sustained it, we did a really good job,” Carroll said, “Now we have six games at home and we are going to try to win all six. You need to take care of home before you go out on the road. Hopefully on the back end (of the season, the schedule) will be easier.”

Carroll had a highly successful trip (15.5 points and 1.8 steals per game on 52 per cent shooting from the field, including 44 per cent from three) and believes he is rounding into form.

“For sure, I’m more comfortable, I have more confidence in my knee and in my game improving,” he said.

Casey agreed, saying as Carroll’s knee gets stronger, so does his confidence in what he can do on the court.

“He’s getting healthier, we’re going to need him, we need his defence against some of the top players in the league and the healthier he is, the better we can be,” Casey said.

According to Casey, Carroll might be able to play in back-to-backs sometime after Jan. 1. At the moment, the team chooses which game Carroll will be needed more in and he sits out the other as part of a maintenance program.

“We’re looking at his health, making sure we are bringing him along at the right time, not over-using him until he gets 100 per cent healthy,” Casey said. “We just don’t want to push it right now.”

The team has three backto-back sets remaining before the calendar turns.

DAVID J. PHILLIP / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Raptors’ DeMarre Carroll, dunking last week against Houston, is seeing his minutes carefully planned out to keep his health in check.