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TSN Raptors Reporter

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TORONTO - In the hours leading up to tip-off, footage of the opponent's most recent game is played on the big screen at the front of the Raptors' locker room, as is the case throughout the NBA, before every contest.

Most players have already reviewed the tape, some more than others, whether it's on their own, in practice or with coaches. These pre-game viewings serve as something of a last minute refresher for those that choose to sit in and watch. During the regular season the audience is limited to a passer-by or two, often the younger guys, as the regulars are elsewhere, getting up shots - either on the main court or in the upstairs practice gym - or getting stretched out in the training room.

On Tuesday, just ahead of Game 5, the team's most important game of the year, at least to this point, there were at least two extra bodies in the room. DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry sat in front of their adjacent lockers with their eyes glued to the television, reliving the horrors of an embarrassing Game 4 loss to the Indiana Pacers. Occasionally their focus would break, but only when they turned to each other and exchanged notes.

It wasn't the first time they had seen it. Having two days in between games is both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, you have plenty of time to reflect on what happened. On the other hand, you have plenty of time to reflect on what happened. This was their last chance to assess what had gone wrong before returning to the court with redemption on their minds.

Whether he would admit it or not, nobody was feeling more pressure to turn the page than DeRozan, the Raptors' slumping star, who had shot 30 per cent over the first four games of the series.

It didn't take him long. Less than two minutes in, DeRozan put his team on the board, hitting his first shot of the night, a 20-foot pull-up. Moments later he knocked down a pair of free throws, having failed to get to the line for the second time in the series three days prior. Finally, this was the DeRozan we had become accustomed to watching during this past season, the best of his career.

So what changed? It depends who you ask.

Knowing that Paul George would be draped all over him - he has been this whole series - the goal was to get the ball to DeRozan with more space to operate, according to Dwane Casey. The head coach credited DeRozan's teammates, particularly the bigs - and especially Bismack Biyombo - for setting better, harder screens to give Toronto's leading scorer a bit more breathing room on his jumper.

DeRozan echoed that sentiment, also crediting the point guards - Lowry and Cory Joseph - for setting him up, but the 26-year-old guard is among those who believe in another, simpler explanation: he was due.

"It’s not surprising," he said after scoring a career playoff high of 34 points in Toronto's 102-99 comeback win. "I think just me being older, maturing, going through a lot basketball-wise, I never got frustrated. It’s easy to complain or make excuses when things are not going your way the previous games, but I know how hard I work, how much I put into the game, and I’m not who I am for no reason. I knew it was going to come. It’s all about being patient and when my team needed it most, it came through."

"We had a couple new wrinkles in our offence but again, at the end of the day, it’s about what he did: He made shots," Casey said. "I can put a million new plays in, wrinkles in, but he’s gotta [make shots], and he did. That’s the key. It’s a player's league and we did a couple things to help him, but he did his part."

True to his word, Casey put DeRozan in more advantageous situations on the floor. His most basic adjustment, tweaking the rotation, may have been the most effective. When George rested, Casey had DeRozan on the floor in lieu of the Lowry and reserves lineup that usually starts the second and fourth quarters. Without the Pacers' star forward out there to make his life difficult, DeRozan feasted, as you might expect. In the 3.5 minutes George sat to begin the second, the Raptors outscored Indiana 13-3 and DeRozan was responsible for scoring eight of those points.

When the Raptors opened the final frame, trailing by 13, DeRozan was the acting power forward in a lineup that had never played a minute together. Understandably, he said they didn't realize it at the time, though they were told after practice on Wednesday. That unit - consisting of DeRozan, Lowry, Joseph, Biyombo and rookie Norman Powell - was just out there playing, desperately working to save Toronto's season.

"It was a crazy thing to think about," DeRozan said. "Like, we never even ran a play together in practice. But to go out there and pull it through was big."

Most of DeRozan's point production came in the first three quarters, practically carrying the Raptors' otherwise dormant offence and keeping them in striking distance. He missed three of his four shots during their 25-9 fourth-quarter run but the one he made was his biggest of the night, his biggest of the series: the go-ahead three-pointer with just over four minutes left. On the subsequent possession he made a great read on the drive and dish play that set Joseph up for his corner three.

Yes, his shots were falling and that goes a long way but, for the first time this spring, DeRozan's game did not look forced.

"Whatever way I was going to go, I was just going to go," said the two-time all-star. "I didn’t hesitate. I didn’t try to hold the ball too much. Either I was going to make a play or try to get to the basket or I got to my spot. And it kind of worked. And I think we all kind of played like that last night."

George remains one of the league's premier perimeter stoppers and no adjustment is going to change that. He's not going to let up and the further this series goes the more he's likely to play. But, if nothing else, DeRozan appears to have finally found his rhythm.