Raptors rotate into playoff mindset

With the NBA’s Eastern Conference so muddled with fewer than two weeks left in the regular season, with teams fighting for seeding and standings changing practically daily, Jonas Valanciunas comes up with some undeniable logic on the topic of trying to play for a specific matchup.

“There is a karma,” the Raptors centre said Friday morning, “and when you’re trying to get a special opponent, like somebody who you think you’re going to beat, they come out swinging and s--- happens.”

That, more than anything, is why the Raptors need to disregard what’s going on above and below them in the jumbled standings.

“You can’t pick the opponents,” Valanciunas said. “We still have to try to get as high as we can and then we’re going to see what opponent we get.”

Before play began Friday night, Boston led Cleveland by half a game for first, Toronto was a game behind Washington for third and they were just 11⁄ and 21⁄ games out of the top

2 2 spot.

With six games left, coach Dwane Casey said it’s time to start post-season preparation. That includes reintegrating injured guard Kyle Lowry — the all-star is just about ready to practise, and the hope remains that he plays at least a few games before the playoffs — and paring the rotation.

Teams generally play only eight or nine guys in the playoffs to keep rotations tight and maximize minutes for the best players. The Raptors have been playing nine or10 players of late without Lowry in the mix, so something has to give.

“What I want to do, starting next week, is getting closer to our playoff rotation and making sure we understand our roles going into the playoffs and that type of thing,” Casey said. “Our whole thing is getting into a rhythm. Practices are few and far between going into the playoffs. What I don’t want to do is wait until those last three days before the playoffs, or two days, whatever it is, and say: Now we’re getting ready for the playoffs. No, they start right now.”