Not a lot of gimmes ahead for Raptors

VALANCIUNAS HURT

gate and maybe picking up a few extra minutes on top of that.

The Spurs, even without perennial All-Star Kawhi Leonard (right quadriceps tendinopathy) and all-world point guard Tony Parker (left quadriceps tendon surgery), remain a handful for any team.

“This is one of the best teams in the league,” Casey said. “I said the other night, the first couple of games we did what we were supposed to do. (Monday night) is going to be a good test for us early in the season against a veteran team that knows what it’s doing. We’re excited about it. It’s one of those things where we have to play with confidence. Any time you play here they try to come out and ambush you in the first quarter and they did that to us last year here. You’ve got to come out with the foot on the pedal ready to go when they throw the ball up. You can’t wait until the second quarter or even halfway through the first. It could be over by then.”

Fortunately for the Raptors they do have that required confidence at the moment. They haven’t played a great all-around game yet but they’ve been solid. DeMar DeRozan, coming off a 30-point night against the Sixers, sees a team that is ready to battle based on the first two contests of the year.

“Yeah, we are going to play extremely hard,” he said. “As long as we have that element in play, everything else will fall in perfectly.”

The road doesn’t get any easier after San Antonio with the Raptors heading north and further west to take on the reigning NBA champion Golden State Warriors on Wednesday night.

“I feel we’re as prepared as we’re going to be early in the season,” Casey said. “Hopefully you come in prepared with the continuity we have versus maybe some newness the other team has or maybe the veteran teams are feeling their way into the season.

“We don’t have that luxury. We have to come in at the beginning of the season, foot on the pedal, ready to go. What better time to do it than now.” nationalpost.com Toronto Raptors centre Jonas Valanciunas grabs his left ankle during NBA action against the Philadelphia 76ers at the ACC. Valanciunas was diagnosed with a sprain and is expected to miss three or four games.