Sweep raises stakes for NBA rematch
Valanciunas among three current Raptors with hand in 2015 debacle
It was one of the lowest moments in recent franchise history: When the Raptors were swept from the first round of the playoffs by the Washington Wizards in the spring of 2015, there wasn’t much of a silver lining in the humiliating defeat.
“It was tough times being swept. There are no good memories, no good things,” said Jonas Valanciunas.
Valanciunas is one of just three current Raptors who played in that series three years ago; Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan are the others. As the team spent the past couple of days preparing to face the Wizards in Saturday’s Game 1 of the first round — a rematch of sorts — all three of the remaining team members pointed out how vastly Toronto’s franchise has changed since that low moment.
“We made some adjustments, now we have a whole different team. It feels like this is the best team I’ve ever been on,” Valanciunas said. “We’re ready to go. We can’t look at what happened three years ago.”
They shouldn’t. This year the Raptors, coming off a franchisebest 59-win campaign, are clear favourites to advance to the second round. They’ve got the superior offence (it’s ranked third in the league to Washington’s 15th). They’ve got the better de- fence (ranked fifth to Washington’s 15th). They’ve got the luxury of superior depth, too. Toronto’s substitutes finished first in the league in bench plus-minus; Washington’s second unit ranked 22nd in the category.
The circa-2018 Raptors have something else they didn’t have in 2015; thanks to a new offence that prioritizes ball-sharing teamwork over one-on-one isolation plays, supporting players such as Valanciunas have been noticeably more contented.
“Finally we find that connection with each other. We became better players. We were good individual players, but now we are better as a team, as one unit,” Valanciunas said. “There’s been a lot of saying, like, there’s no ‘I’ in team. So, finally we probably got it, and now it feels great to play on this team … I’m not saying that it’s never been great, but it feels better. It feels like, just enjoy the playoffs.”
Which is not to say the memory of 2015’s prompt playoff exit has been totally erased.
“I know I got a lot of blame from some people in this (media) room, and I took it hard,” Lowry said. “I came back and got better from it. I think a lot of people got better.”
Still, Lowry is among the Raptors who’ve built a reputation for underperforming in the post-season, and that’s a reputation that will only be lived down by sustained excellence in meaningful games. On Friday, Lowry, for his part, sounded as assured as he ever has that such a performance is in the offing.
“We’re a completely different organization. We’re a completely different team. We’re older, we have different players. Everybody’s been through this a little better,” Lowry said. “Just a different team, a different feel for us.”