Raptors hit 50 with clock ticking on playoff test
NEWYORK— They had survived yet another predictably sluggish start to another weekend afternoon game that messes with the rhythm of their lives, and the Toronto Raptors figure the same awaits them next weekend.
But Kyle Lowry laid out a plaintive plea to the playoff schedule-makers to please, please — pretty please with a cherry on top — take it easy on the Raptors this time.
“I hope not, man. I hope not,” he said when it was pointed out that Sunday’s noon start to a 110-97 win over the Knicks was likely a precursor to Game 1 of the playoffs.
“NBA? Please, no. Just not 12 o’clock. Please and thank you.”
The Raptors have drawn the short straw and early start in each of the last two post-seasons, and lost both times. It may be coincidental or reflect on the quality of the opposition, but it might also have to do with their body clocks being thrown off more than their opponents.
“You are so used to playing those night games at 7:30 and 7 p.m. and you have that normal routine with shootaround, and then come in before the game or have a nap before the game — whatever guys do — and you kind of get thrown off with these early starts, so it’s kind of an adjustment,” DeMar DeRozan said. “You have to learn on the fly. So now it was agood thing just in case we do play an early game (next) weekend.”
It was also a good thing that the Raptors played well for most of the afternoon to post win No. 50 on the regular season in convincing fashion.
The first quarter may not have been played at a blistering pace, and it might have taken them a while to get fully into the game, but they won going away and have now posted back-to-back 50-win seasons.
“I think we take it for granted. It’s not easy. We did it a lot of years in Seattle (where he began his NBA ca- reer) and it’s not easy,” said coach Dwane Casey. “I don’t care what team you have, who you are, to start from where we started to get to where we are . . . it’s an accomplishment by the players.”
Given all they’ve been through, with injuries to almost every key player and a mid-season roster shakeup that added two vital rotation players, there’s almost a greater sense of accomplishment than the franchise-record 56 wins a year ago.
“It shows that the organization is growing,” Lowry said. “Me and DeMar and J.V. (Jonas Valanciunas) have been here throughout the whole thing. Pat (Patterson) has been here . . . It just shows the commitment that the organization has to winning. It shows what we have been able to build throughout these years.
“It’s important. I know we are not the Spurs and getting 60 (wins every year), but just to get to 50 and have that benchmark as a standard for us is big for us.”
Sunday’s win — fashioned behind 35 points from DeRozan and 17 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds from Lowry — also guarantees the Raptors will finish no worse than third in the Eastern Conference.
If they win their final game Wednesday in Cleveland and Boston loses home games to Brooklyn and Milwaukee, the Raptors will grab the second seed, but they now know fourth is impossible.
“We’re not a well-oiled machine, as we saw today,” Casey said. “We did it today on grit and grind and hustle and work, not from execution and togetherness on both ends of the floor.
“This week is going to be big for us, and that game Wednesday night, win or lose, working on our team together, is going to be important for us.”