Mar 31, 2015
Raptors look for motivation in stretch run
They won't see Atlanta on the schedule. They won't see Cleveland, Chicago or any of the elite teams out West. But as TSN's Josh Lewenberg writes, playing down to their opponents' record, as they've done so often in the past, would not be advisable.
TORONTO - The white board in the Raptors' locker room, used mostly for pre-game strategy, was wiped clean following their exciting victory over Houston, all except a single quote scribbled in black ink on the upper right corner.
"If you ain't FIRST you're last. If you're LAST you were NEVER there."
Lacking in tangible motivation these days, having recently clinched a playoff spot and the division crown, Toronto has been on cruise control for the bulk of this last month.
The post-season is just around the corner and while home-court advantage in the opening round is still up for grabs - they must finish with a better record than their opponent - they can't drop further than the fourth seed and it seems increasingly unlikely that they'll finish higher than third.
On Monday, for the first time since mid-February, the Raptors looked inward for that inspiration and the end result reflected their rediscovered sense of urgency. Led by a career-high 42-point performance from DeMar DeRozan, they even started to resemble that resilient bunch that took the NBA by storm a year ago.
"Any great movie wouldn't be good if it didn't have no thrills or drama in it," DeRozan said following practice a day after his team's 99-96 win over the Rockets. "You wouldn't wanna watch it. So we've just got to learn from it and understand we can't let a tough time break us. We've gotta use it as motivation and really put that chip back on our shoulder that we had before."
"It can always help in the long run and maybe we needed that, especially going into the playoffs. Understanding we need to be [playing] our best basketball if we want to make something happen."
The victory was Toronto's first against a winning opponent since Feb. 20, following 10 straight losses. It was also the last time they'll see a team above .500 until the playoffs begin in just over two weeks. Still, their remaining schedule is deceptively difficult and not one they, or anyone else, should be taking lightly.
The Raptors will play six of their final eight games on the road, where they're 18-17 this season. Six of eight will come against four teams currently vying for the seventh and eighth seeds in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
After opening the month of April in Minnesota against a 16-win Timberwolves team, they'll play the Nets, Celtics (twice), Hornets (twice) and Heat. As of Tuesday afternoon, those four clubs, in addition to the Pacers, are within three games of each other. Only two will qualify for the postseason.
Although this could conceivably change by the time Toronto faces them, those teams are fighting for their playoff lives. Their motivation is plain as day: win or go home.
"They can be real dangerous because they're going to go out there every single night knowing their life is on the line, trying to make the playoffs," DeRozan said. "So you've got to go in there with a lot of respect for [those] teams because they're going to go out there and play until the last second."
For the Raptors, they may have to dig a little deeper. Kyle Lowry remains sidelined, without a timetable for his return. Even if the playoffs were to begin today, Lowry's injured back would keep him out of the lineup, Dwane Casey indicated ahead of Monday's game.
They won't see Atlanta on the schedule. They won't see Cleveland, Chicago or any of the elite teams out West. But playing down to their opponents' record, as they've done so often in the past, would not be advisable.
"We understand we're playing for the playoffs," DeRozan said. "We've got to play great basketball going into the playoffs. We can't play mediocre basketball and expect to come [into] Game 1 and play at an all-time high if we haven't been playing good the last eight games. So that's our whole thing and our whole motivation now is to really play at a high level, especially on the defensive end these eight games. I think that'll carry over into the playoffs."
"We're working for home-court [advantage]," Casey pointed out. "We don't have home-court locked up so we're fighting for home-court. We're playing for something, it's not over with. So that's the message for our guys. Yeah, we have the division. Yeah, we've got the playoffs made but we have to have a better record [than our opponent] to lock up home-court. So that's the message but not only that, let's have professional pride to be better offensively, moving the ball, and be better defensively."