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TSN Raptors Reporter

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TORONTO - Long before the 76ers recently-resigned general manager Sam Hinkie made "The Process" his legacy in Philadelphia, the term had already become something of a slogan for the Raptors' building effort.

Dwane Casey would often speak of the "process" a team must toil through in the hopes of getting to where the Raptors ultimately wanted to go, where they still want to go.

He's used the word so many times over the last five years it's morphed into a source of humour for Toronto's head coach, who will catch himself shortly after referencing it during a pre-game scrum, smirk, and gaze at the scribe who last made light of it in print.

The truth is, every team has their own "process" and, for the ones starting from the ground up, they're more or less the same. On top of the obvious - good drafting, player development and asset management - any successful rebuild requires some luck, a lot of patience and, most importantly, time.

The Sixers - responsible for gifting Toronto its 55th win on Tuesday - are learning what the Raptors have come to know: there's no cheating the process.

As this incarnation of the Raptors - led by Casey, DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry - prepare to make their third straight post-season appearance, their third stab at advancing past the first round, they're hopeful that they've served their time.

Ask anyone who has played in the NBA's second season and they'll tell you the playoffs are a different animal, something you have to experience to understand and be ready for and while there are always exceptions to the rule, recent history seems to support that claim. This is the time of year when the more seasoned teams believe they have an advantage, even if it's just a mental one. If nothing else, they know what to expect.

Have the Raptors graduated to that class? Certainly they're a lot better off than they were two years ago, when the playoffs were a new frontier to many of them, including DeRozan, Jonas Valanciunas, Terrence Ross and Patrick Patterson.

"I had no clue," DeRozan admitted. "Guys could tell you what to look out for, how to prepare for the playoffs but it’s a different atmosphere. When you get out there, the intensity, every single second you’re out there on the court, everything matters so you’ve got to be mentally locked in because nothing is a secret."

"The first year we had some success, we didn't win the seven-game series but we had some success," said Casey, whose starters had just 24 games of playoff experience before taking Brooklyn - 388 games of playoff experience between its starters - to a deciding Game 7. "Last year they went through something so they understand the pitfalls of a playoff series."

That "something" he's referring to is, of course, last year's embarrassing first-round exit, a four-game sweep at the hands of the Washington Wizards. The Wizards were the better team, by a mile. They were also the wiser team. It's unclear how much those two things are related but clearly Paul Pierce - Toronto's post-season nemesis in each of the last two years - would tell you they are. Led by the veteran Pierce, Washington's starters went into that series with 281 games of playoff experience under their belt, compared to 59 for the Raptors.

The differences between this year's team and last are numerous, both in terms of personnel and playing personality, but the most obvious one is simple math: each of their holdovers from those two disappointing post-season eliminations are another year older.

"I've been through it numerous times as a coach but that was the first time [a lot of them] had been through it, getting swept, embarrassed, hurt, whatever you want to call it," Casey said. "But you learn from it and if you don't, it's shame on us. So that helped us last year even though it was painful to go through that and I think the guys learned from it. I even know now, when we see blitzes and pick and roll defences like that we're not surprised or overwhelmed by it."

With Indiana's win on Tuesday, and Detroit's loss, the Raptors are set to face the Pacers in the opening round, beginning this coming weekend at the Air Canada Centre. While it's hardly a daunting match-up, given Indiana's struggles since the All-Star break, and one they will be favoured in, the Raptors will be the less experienced team for a third straight year. The Pacers' starters have 198 games of playoff experience, to Toronto's 110 and Paul George, who has been through the grind of a long post-season run, has more than anyone on the Raptors' roster (54).

It's not a death sentence by any means, especially if they have indeed grown as a result of last year's failure.

The Raptors' three most experienced players, in terms of the post-season anyway, were not even around for that Wizards series. Cory Joseph, DeMarre Carroll and Luis Scola all came to Toronto from winning programs, which is no coincidence. In addition to targeting tough, gritty, defensive-minded players last summer, Masai Ujiri knew this team could benefit from the presence of players that have reached the next level, that know what it takes to win when the calendar turns to May.

Although Joseph's role was limited playing behind Tony Parker in San Antonio, he's appeared in 41 playoff games with the Spurs, more than anyone on the Raptors, and is the only Toronto player with a championship ring. Carroll is fresh off an appearance in the Eastern Conference Finals with Atlanta, where he guarded LeBron James, and the 35-year-old Scola went there the year prior as a member of the Pacers.

"It's great from a leadership standpoint, understanding what it takes to win," said Carroll, who played 20 productive minutes in his third game back from injury and should get the bulk of the work against George next week. "I feel like we bring a lot to this team, not only on the court but mentally too. So we've just got to play our role and keep doing what we're doing and hopefully help this team get past the first round."

"I get the sense that they of course want to do better but last year is last year," Joseph said of the returning Raptors. "We've got a lot of new guys so we can't focus on last year. Everything will be little bit different, it's a whole new year. So I don't feel like they're trying to redeem themselves but I get the sense that they definitely want to do well and they're definitely locked in and focused."

For the Raptors, that wide-eyed excitement of making the playoffs has worn off and reality has set in. The style of play is about to change, the atmosphere is about to intensify and the stakes will continue to rise. The question remains: are they ready for it this time around?