Raptors set for the playoff bump and grind
Veteran core has feel for the post-season game after last year’s run
CLEVELAND— They know what’s in front of them, the pitfalls and the pressure and the pain, but the Toronto Raptors also know the NBA playoffs are about them rather than who they play or when.
A veteran team with a core that remembers well the grind of last spring has to take care of its own business first and foremost.
“We play it out and whatever happens, happens,” point guard Kyle Lowry said. “Don’t care about who we play, where we play. We just gotta go play.”
The Raptors found out on the penultimate night of the regular season that they will face the Milwaukee Bucks when the best-of-seven first round begins on the weekend. Atlanta’s103-76 thumping of the Charlotte Hornets on Monday made sure of that matchup and gives Atlanta a first-round date with the fourthseeded Washington Wizards.
The “when” of the series remains a mystery, though. The only thing that can be known with any level of certainty is that Game 2 will be Tuesday night at the Air Canada Centre, in between Toronto Maple Leafs games on Monday and Wednesday. Whether the series opens Saturday won’t be clear until the league releases the full post-season schedule late Wednesday night.
When they know what’s in front of them, the Raptors can get ready for a grind they remember from a 20game post-season in 2016. And the lessons learned in a drive to the conference finals.
“The adversity, how hard it really is to get to that point,” DeMar DeRozan recalled. “If you have never been to that point you really don’t understand how hard it really is. We faced that in every single round we was in. We had two seven game series, we played Cleveland six games and lost to them and it was rough, so we learned the hard way.”
The Raptors are expected to use all their regular players here in Wednesday’s season finale, although that’s always subject to change. Coach Dwane Casey has been adamant for weeks he feels the team needs the rhythm of games to stay sharp rather than full nights off. He may deploy the likes of DeRozan, Lowry, Jonas Valanciunas and Serge Ibaka for limited time but they should all play a bit.
DeRozan, for one, feels entirely rested anyway.
“I got rest when I went out with the ankle, I missed a few games and that helped me get back on my feet where I wanted to be,” he said, referring to a six-game, injury-induced January absence.
“You can’t really think about rest right now, it’s all about the real deal right now.”
The Cavaliers, meanwhile, are taking the exact opposite track. LeBron James and Kyrie Irving sat out a Monday loss in Miami and Cleveland reports say James will take Wednesday off as well. Irving’s availability is unclear, as is that of Tristan Thompson, who has missed three games with a thumb injury.
The Raptors, meanwhile, are mindful that the grind of the playoffs is as much mental and physical, regardless of what transpires in Game 82 on Wednesday.
“Climbing up that mountain top you gotta definitely be locked in every step of the way,” DeRozan said. “Understanding it’s not going to be an easy way out. There are going to be road bumps and it’s going to be tough, but understanding how to fight through it, how to get through it and take it game by game.”