Dynamic duo back together
There’s such a feel and a familiarity between Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan that no words are required when a key stretch arrives during a game.
The two all-stars know how to play off each other, have this instinctive way of performing that is only developed with trust and years of being together as teammates.
It’s why DeRozan was at ease Wednesday night at the Palace of Auburn Hills, why all he had to do was give Lowry that look and the ball would be delivered.
For most the evening against the host Pistons, DeRozan struggled with his jumper, perhaps the victim of playing back-to-back, wasn’t as able to get to the line like he normally does and ended by making only three trips to the charity stripe.
He did tie with Lowry for the game-high in assists, both recording 10.
It was down the stretch when DeRozan emerged, three times scoring baskets that would deadlock the game, a kick out by DeRozan to Serge Ibaka, who also struggled with his shot, for a corner three-ball that provided Toronto with a three-point lead.
It was also DeRozan who feed Jonas Valanciunas for a basket.
“Getting a rhythm with Kyle, that’s the easy part,’’ began DeRozan, who put the Raptors on his shoulder in Lowry’s injury absence. “It’s about everybody else and understanding how we play, how well we play off each other, how quickly we think on the go.
“Just trying to keep everybody on the same page, especially with (Lowry) being back. We have a couple of more games to figure it out, but it feels good.”
It always feels good when an evening ends with a win, when a floor general and late-game performer such as Lowry returns, when all the pieces, it would seem, are falling into place.
There were two sequences when Lowry and Ibaka weren’t on the same page, two plays that would end up in turnovers, an outlet pass that sailed over Ibaka and into the courtside seats, a dive to the basket by Ibaka that wasn’t executed.
P.J. Tucker doesn’t need to have plays run for him, his biggest asset on defence where he recorded five rebounds in the fourth quarter against the Pistons.
Tucker and Lowry played the entire period, a 37-22 disparity favouring Toronto, the two joining Jonas Valanciunas in finishing the game’s final 12 minutes with a plus15 rating.
“They’re all pros,’’ Lowry said of Ibaka and Tucker. “We’ll figure it out.”
Practicedaysatthistimeoftheyear are slim.
Following Wednesday’s win, the Raptors had Thursday off and now get set to play host to Miami Friday night, Toronto’s final home game of the regular season, before closing out the year on the road with a Sunday matinee in New York against the Knicks and Wednesday night in Cleveland.
Head coach Dwane Casey rolled with a seven-man rotation in the decisive fourth, the odd-man out being DeMarre Carroll, a starter who will likely continue to start.
In the NBA, it’s not who starts, but who finishes.
Clearly,though,theRaptorsneedto start better than Wednesday, which saw them yield 33 points, this after Toronto surrendered 68 secondhalf points the night earlier in Indy against a Pacers team that came back from a 19-point deficit to win by 18.
The numbers are ugly and yet Toronto is two wins away from its second consecutive 50-win season, back to back no less, and wrapping up the No. 3 seed.
The way Cleveland ambushed the host Celtics on the same night Toronto closed out the Pistons, no team wants to play the Cavs in the playoffs until the conference final, a scenario that means finishing second or third.
Cleveland and Toronto are the most seasoned teams in the East and a rematch of last year’s conference final is realistic.
The step the Raptors must now complete is for the likes of Ibaka and Tucker to continue to play off Lowry, who cited the team’s toughness, resilience and experience as the reasons why they escaped the Palace after trailing by as many as 20.
Lost in the win was how Toronto allowed Detroit to shoot 52.5 per cent, a number Casey can’t tolerate, or any coach for that matter.
“Our rhythm was off a little bit, our defensive rhythm was off, back to back, whatever it is,’’ he said. “We didn’t start the game out the right way. We ended up playing well in the fourth quarter, but we can’t live that way and expect to go anywhere.”