DeRozan relentless in leading the charge
The body hurts from head to toe because the hits are hard and frequent as DeMar DeRozan morphs into one of the best attackers of the rim in the NBA.
But the pain subsides, and it’s probably worth it anyway on nights like Wednesday.
Basically challenging officials to call fouls with relentless forays to the rim, DeRozan lived at the free throw line, making all 15 foul shots he took as the Toronto Raptors survived a frantic finish to subdue the Washington Wizards 94-91 at the Air Canada Centre.
“That’s my goal every night, honestly, just trying to get teams in foul trouble, try to slow down the game, keep the game to our pace, get to the line,” DeRozan said after his season-high 34-point performance. “I think that’s big. I always try to take advantage of it as much as I can.”
The Raptors needed every one of DeRozan’s foul shots and points because it was a particularly ugly night offensively, with Toronto shooting just 34 per cent from the field. But a 39-17 advantage in free throws attempted — and 32-13 edge in makes — was the difference.
“It’s very rare that you shoot 34 per cent and put yourself in a position to win and (have) 18 turnovers,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. “That was probably as bad offensively that we’ve played all year.
“We’ll take it, have to learn from it, get better from it on the offensive end . . . we have to execute better offensively, especially down the stretch.”
The stretch was particularly galling and nerve-wracking as the Raptors tried their best to fritter away a ninepoint lead in the final three minutes. They went stone cold offensively — they didn’t score a basket in the game’s final five minutes — and missed enough defensive assignments to let the Wizards get within one with 40 seconds left.
And with the game in the balance in the frantic final seconds, they let Washington get off three potential game-tying three-pointers.
“We were supposed to foul, we had two opportunities to foul down the stretch and we didn’t get to it for whatever reason,” Casey said. “We were afraid to foul a guy when he was in the shooting motion.” Afraid? Or smart? “Some things are always easier said than done,” DeRozan said. “Once that first shot missed, the ball was just bouncing around everywhere, trying to get to guys. You don’t just want to run at guys when they’re in the shooting motion. You’ve got to be cautious of that. Luckily we got a stop when we needed.”
The Raptors also got a boost from the bench, as Terrence Ross awoke from a one-game slumber to score 14 points and Bismack Biyombo added 12 points and 12 rebounds.
Ross played nearly 30 minutes because he was the only consistent scoring threat in the second unit.
“He was making shots,” Casey said of Ross.
“He was the only guy out there making a threat from the three. We were running plays for him, sets for him. He was coming off screens and knocking it down. Defensively he did a good job but offensively, he was one guy we could run a play for where he was kind of running free. “DeMar had to work for every ounce, Kyle (Lowry) had to work for every ounce they got and for whatever reason, they were losing T-Ross off pin-downs and screens.”
Otto Porter had 20 points for the Wizards and John Wall had 19 to go along with 10 assists for Washington.
Casey, a basketball lifer in the truest sense, joined Sam Mitchell as the longest-serving coach in Raptors franchise history on Wednesday night in handling his 245th game.