Bench press

It’s a luxury coaches covet, but one that comes with some risks attached.

Just ask Dwane Casey, who has now seen his bench do all the heavy lifting in the fourth quarter, a common site of late as the Raptors continue to build momentum heading into the all-star break.

Against Boston, for example, no starter played more than 30 minutes, no starter on the floor for single second in the final quarter as Toronto would rout the visiting Celtics. Delon Wright and Fred VanVleet played all 12 minutes in the fourth quarter as Boston outscored Toronto 31-28.

Rhythm is something C.J. Miles was able to find, the veteran sharpshooter producing 15 of his bench leading 20 points in the final frame, a stretch that saw Miles drain all four of his three-point attempts.

“Hopefully they’re getting rest,” Casey said of his starters. “I hope they’re not getting out of rhythm or losing their rhythm a little bit because there’s going to be games where they’re going to be ramped up. They got to maintain conditioning, maintain their timing, maintain the rhythm and the feel for the game.” Casey. “We said it’s one of 82, doesn’t make your season, doesn’t break your season. We’ve got New York coming in Thursday night, it’s just as important.

“We’ve got to maintain that focus and not get caught up in second place, first place, whatever. Maintain what we’re try to accomplish.”