Raptors get back to work against Heat

Josh Lewenberg

TSN Raptors Reporter

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TORONTO - Enjoy it until midnight.

That's the advice DeMarre Carroll's uncle and college coach would give him following big games at Missouri. Enjoy it until midnight. It's the same advice Dwane Casey and his coaching staff borrowed after Sunday's win - the biggest in the Raptors’ 21-year history.

The final buzzer sounded just after 10:30 p.m. They had held off the scrappy Indiana Pacers to take Game 7 and advance in the playoffs for the first time in 15 years. But after the confetti fell and the handshakes and hugs were out of the way, it was back to work.

For many Raptors players, winning a round and having to immediately prepare for another is uncharted waters.

"I was reading the book [on the Miami Heat] last night," said Kyle Lowry. "I didn’t really celebrate the win too much because it was such a quick turnaround."

"As soon as I got back to my apartment I started looking at the scouting report and the playbooks for them," rookie Norman Powell added.

"I’m sure everybody’s excited," Casey said. "But now we gotta switch quickly to Miami... You gotta change directions quickly. I told the guys celebrate until about midnight. Now we gotta start thinking about Miami."

The Heat, like the Raptors, enter the second round on the heels of a seven-game series, and that's not where the similarities end. They've also been wildly inconsistent - their highs even higher than the Raptors' and their lows arguably lower. After winning their first two playoff games against Charlotte handily, they lost three straight before winning their last two facing elimination, including a 33-point blowout victory to move on. They scored 110.3 in their wins and 26.0 fewer in the losses (84.3).

Coincidently, the turning point of their season came in Toronto back in mid-February when their best player, Chris Bosh, was pulled from the All-Star Game after another blood clot scare. Bosh would ultimately get shut down for the season, an unfortunate circumstance but one that forced the team to adjust. Without the former Raptor, head coach Erik Spoelstra committed to going small, a playing personality that has yielded positive results. From the break onward, Miami closed out the regular season with the fifth-best record in the NBA at 19-10, just below the 21-9 Raptors. Already a top-10 defensive club, their second-half surge was powered by the league's most improved offence.

Read very little into the season series between these two teams - even less so than you usually would at this time of year. Toronto went 3-1, but three of those meetings came before the All-Star Game. Late-season addition Joe Johnson appeared in just one matchup against the Raptors for the Heat, while Powell only saw garbage minutes in the November contest and DeMarre Carroll missed all four.

The book on this small-ball version of the Heat is to keep them out of the paint, where they scored 43.4 points per game during the season - second-most in the NBA. Although they are an improved jump shooting team and hit an impressive 41 per cent from long distance in the first round, they rank towards the bottom of the league in three-point attempts. Their preference is to attack the rim. 

"They’re in an in-the-paint team. They’re getting downhill, they’re getting out in transition, so we’ve got to do a job getting back in transition and try to keep the ball out of the paint," Lowry said. "It’s easier said than done. Preparing for them is different than preparing for Indiana."

A year ago that would have presented more of a problem for the Raptors, but only three teams allowed fewer paint points than Toronto this season. Some of that is credit to schematic changes and an emphasis on closing off the lane going into training camp, but most of it is a result of their personnel. Cory Joseph and a healthy Kyle Lowry have helped shore up the perimeter defence, while Bismack Biyombo and an improved Jonas Valanciunas have provided more resistance at the rim.

Still, scouting the Heat could prove to be more difficult than preparing for Indiana, especially under the time crunch. With all due respect to Dwyane Wade, who can still take over a game in his 13th NBA season, Miami doesn't have a weapon like Paul George, but they do feature more talent across the board - guys who can beat you in different ways at every position.

Beyond that, this is the fourth straight playoff series Toronto will go into as the less experienced team, and it's not even close. Of the 14 players that appeared in the first round for Miami, five of them have more individual games of playoff experience than anyone on the Raptors' roster. Wade (159) and Udonis Haslem (141) have each appeared in more postseason contests than the entire Toronto starting lineup combined (119).

If the Raptors play like they did in the opening round it's hard to like their chances. Now, without the fear of another first-round exit hanging over their heads, the hope is that they can find themselves playing pressure-free basketball once again. Even as the higher seed, many will have them as underdogs going into the series but, truth be told, that's probably how they'd prefer it.

"Everyone is jolly, everyone is encouraged, everyone is confident," Carroll said after practice on Monday, the eve of Game 1. "That is what they brought me here for, to bring some more leadership. Once you get past one round you don’t want to just settle for that one. You got a chance now to make it to the Eastern Conference Finals or even the NBA Finals."

"I think the talk about us not being able to make it out of the first round was tough on some guys, the pressure of that," Powell admitted. "Being able to complete that mark, everybody is happy today. You can see a new spring in their step. It was a great accomplishment but we’re not satisfied at all. There is a lot more that we can do and we believe we can accomplish in the playoffs. There’s a great feeling around the Raptors facility right now, but we’re all hungry and looking forward to Miami."

"The first one is always the hardest and now you can go back to playing basketball like you know how to play," Carroll continued. "I think that is what is going to happen. I see a lot of big games for a lot of guys in the future - Kyle Lowry especially. I feel this is a series, if we need anyone to dominant, we are going to need him to dominate his matchup."

The Backcourts

Starters: Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan vs. Goran Dragic and Dwyane Wade

Key reserves: Cory Joseph and Terrence Ross vs. Josh Richardson and Gerald Green

After shooting a combined 39 per cent in the Brooklyn series two years ago, and 36 per cent last season against Washington, Lowry and DeRozan hit just 32 per cent of their attempts in the opening round. How much of that can be attributed to Indiana's defensive prowess, Lowry's ailing elbow or simply a continued difficulty adapting to playoff basketball? As the sample size gets bigger and their playoff resumes grow in this series we may get a better idea. One thing is for certain: the Raptors need more from their all-star duo to advance.

You can rely on Lowry for his usual hard play and ability to create offence for others, but his elbow appears to be affecting his jump shot more than he's letting on. Since aggravating the bursitis against Orlando on Mar. 20, he's shooting 32 per cent from the field, including an atrocious 16 per cent from three-point range in the playoffs. He's showing less and less confidence in the jumper as the games go on, focusing instead on getting in the lane and facilitating, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, although Miami may start playing off of him and daring him to shoot.

On the surface, Dragic appears to be a more favourable matchup for him than George Hill. Lowry and Dragic are familiar with each other from their time together in Houston, where they split point guard duties from 2011-12. Lowry began that year as the Rockets starter and was playing the best basketball of his career before illness and injury knocked him out of the lineup long enough for Dragic to take his job. Lowry returned, didn't take to his role coming off the bench, and feuded with coach Kevin McHale, ultimately leading to the trade that sent him to Toronto. Although their relationship was never contentious - they actually remain good friends - you can bet Lowry will want to get the better of his former teammate.

"They went pretty hard in practice," said Carroll, a teammate of the two with the Rockets in 2011, though he played in just five games. "You could tell there was tension, but at the same time they had to play with each other and one guy was starting and the other guy wasn’t so it was one of those things. I’m very encouraged and very excited to see this battle."

"I don’t know if Goran is still thinking about it, but I know Kyle is still thinking about it, probably," he continued. "Kyle is a pest anyway. He’s a bulldog and I feel he will be ready to come back because he did not play [well], I mean, he did not do what everyone in the media and the fans wanted him to do [in the first round]. I think he still contributed in a lot of ways, but I think this series is going to be very big for him."

If Lowry can't find his shot, DeRozan's scoring becomes even more imperative. Clearly, he will not miss George and his elite perimeter defence, but Miami’s roster contains a couple of long, physical wing players in Luol Deng and rookie Justise Winslow who could also present a challenge.

Even on the wrong side of 30, Wade is probably the most dangerous player on this Heat team. He's still a dynamic scorer that can change a game with his playmaking and ability to draw and, more importantly, sell contact in the lane. The Raptors will throw different looks at him, including the rookie Powell, who grew up watching the three-time NBA champion.

"It’s going to be fun," Powell said. "Dwyane Wade is one of the guys I modelled my game after growing up. He was a role model for me. It’s going to be fun for me in the minutes I do get to guard him. I’ve been watching him my whole life, so I’m looking forward to the challenge."

Richardson has been Miami's version of Powell, a breakout second-round pick who cracked the team's rotation to become a valuable contributor off the bench. Joseph, the Raptors' most consistent performer and unheralded hero in Round 1, will continue to big minutes and could very well close games on Wade. With the emergence of Powell and his own inconsistent play, Ross has seen his minutes decrease in each of the last four games. The Heat are a wing-heavy team and surely Toronto will need his shooting, provided he's hitting shots, so expect Ross to factor into the rotation. Deservedly or not, he'll get a chance to redeem himself, but his leash won't be long.

The Wings

Starters: DeMarre Carroll vs. Joe Johnson

Key reserves: Norman Powell vs. Justise Winslow

Johnson probably isn't the same player he was when he torched Toronto as a member of the Nets in the playoffs two years ago by averaging 21.9 points on 52 per cent shooting in Brooklyn's seven-game series win. Still, the Raptors probably don't want to test that theory. Enter DeMarre Carroll, a player they brought in with these kinds of matchups in mind. The knee injury that cost him over three months of the season doesn't appear to be holding him back any longer, at least not from a minutes standpoint, as he played the third-most of any Raptor in the first round. He can also be used on Wade, or perhaps even Deng, but this is the matchup he seems to be preparing for most.

"I’ve guarded both [Johnson and Wade]," he said. "Joe I know last year quite well from the Brooklyn series. We went toe-to-toe in that one. I know Joe. I’m probably more familiar with Joe, but it doesn’t matter. Whoever you throw me on."

After losing his starting gig and playing just three minutes at the end of a blowout Game 3, Powell scored in double figures in three of the last four contests against Indiana while guarding George on the other end. He's more than earned a role on this team going forward, the question is: What will that role be? Casey won't reveal his starting lineup until just prior to Game 1 on Tuesday, but if he chooses to matchup with Miami's small unit Powell could get the nod in place of Patrick Patterson.

"I’m proud of him," Casey said of the 22-year-old Powell. "The way he’s played, produced - he’s met the challenge. The moment hasn’t been too big for him. He’s played in a mature way, shot the ball with confidence. It’s a big, big leap from UCLA to the NBA playoffs and he’s done that. So I’m really happy for him, proud of him for doing that."

The Frontcourts

Starters: Patrick Patterson and Jonas Valanciunas vs. Luol Deng and Hassan Whiteside  

Key reserves: Bismack Biyombo and Luis Scola vs Amar'e Stoudemire and Josh McRoberts

The Raptors, like 28 other teams, had the opportunity to scoop up Whiteside and declined to do so. Now, Miami's talented 7-footer seems intent on reminding them they made a mistake every time the two teams meet. The NBA's leader in blocks during the regular season and here in the playoffs, Whiteside's presence alone serves as a deterrent around the rim.

"We’ve got some plans in place [for Whiteside]," Casey said. "It’s going to be a challenge of how we do it. [There’s] a couple of different ways we have to look at it because he cleans up a lot of mistakes for them. You gotta respect that. You gotta respect he’s going to be there. Our relocation after penetration is going to have to be pristine. It’s going to have to be perfect. That’s what we worked on today, went through today, because he is a problem back there."

Whether it's Valanciunas or Biyombo on the floor, the centre matchup is going to be a battle. To their credit, the Raptors' bigs haven't backed down from the physicality of the postseason. Valanciunas has had success against Whiteside in the past and tends to fare better in matchups with long, shot-blocker types rather than craftier, stretch bigs. As for Biyombo, his style of play seems to be the perfect fit in a series like this, especially when Casey decides to go small.

Both Valanciunas and Biyombo - as well as Patterson, an underrated defender - will be crucial in Toronto's efforts to clog the lane.

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The Raptors win if... their three-point gunners - Lowry, Carroll, Patterson and Ross - are on target and they're able to keep Miami, particularly Wade and Dragic, out of the paint.

The Heat win if... Lowry's elbow continues to limit his ability to take over the game and their perimeter defenders are able to replicate the success Indiana had in shutting down DeRozan.