Ready to ‘redeem’ himself
After back-to-back blowout losses, DeRozan can’t wait for Game 3
The morning after one of the worst losses of his NBA career, DeMar DeRozan couldn’t wait to face Cleveland again.
The Raptors leading scorer had just five points in Toronto’s 125-103 blowout loss to the Cavaliers on Wednesday, and he still wore the frustration from his puzzling performance after Thursday’s practice at Biosteel Centre.
“The thing that sucks the most is the idle time (between games),” DeRozan said. “That’s the most frustrating part is just trying to keep the patience, and play and just get this feeling off us. That’s the crappiest part about it. Just can’t wait to get out there to redeem yourself.”
Asked if he wished they’d played again Thursday?
“Yes, that would have been helpful,” DeRozan said.
DeRozan went without a field goal in a blowout loss to Milwaukee in the opening round, but bounced back with a vengeance, scoring 32 points in the series-clinching Game 6.
But he’s had five career playoff games with fewer than 10 points in his career, and the Raptors have lost all five.
Social media hasn’t been kind to DeRozan and the Raptors this week.
It’s reminiscent, he said, of last season’s Eastern Conference finals when the Raptors were routed in the first two games in Cleveland and were all but written off before rebounding to win two games at home.
“Just to have that feeling again, people counting you out, whatever negative comes with losing, being down two games, that definitely sucks and it’s something that we’re gonna have to use tomorrow night,” DeRozan said.
He tries to tune out the negative noise.
“For sure. But you can’t turn on the TV or look on nothing socially without seeing all the criticism or questioning this or whatever somebody may think,” DeRozan said. “At the end of the day, we’re all human, everybody see things and may get text messages, whatever comes with it, it’s part of the game. But like I said, it’s all a matter of how we respond to it, the good and the bad.”
Wednesday’s loss was Toronto’s fifth straight post-season rout in Cleveland. They’ve lost by an average of 24.2 points.
DeRozan said the Raptors horrible performance in both
games was much tougher to stomach than the fact they’re down 2-0 in the series.
“At least give ourselves a chance to be in the game,” DeRozan said. “If we win we win, if we lose we lose and we understand what we’ve got to do if it’s a close game, going down the stretch. But losing that way, it’s definitely deflating.”
While they’re happy to be back home, there was more bad news for Toronto on Thursday. Kyle Lowry didn’t practise due to his sprained left ankle, and is questionable for Game 3.
Game 4 is Sunday at the Air Canada Centre. A Game 5, if needed, would be Tuesday in Cleveland.