Undefeated Raptors winning with toughness

Josh Lewenberg

TSN Raptors Reporter

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Visiting Oklahoma City, one of the NBA's toughest locales, to face Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and the Thunder - nine-point favourites at home - nobody would have faulted them for letting one slip away.

It seemed to be headed in that direction, as Toronto scored just 13 points on 21 per cent shooting in the first quarter, falling behind by 12 early on.

Last season, they lost seven of eight road contests against Western Conference playoff teams. A game like Wednesday's wouldn't have ended well, but this Raptors team had other plans.

"I'll tell you what, they're tough but we're tough too," said newcomer Bismack Biyombo following Toronto's 103-98 upset win, their fifth straight to open the young season, good for the best start in franchise history.

"We're not backing off of nobody," the centre continued. "We're not going to back off. We're going to come in every building and we're going to play our game. We're going to be tough; we're not going to back off anybody. That's just our mindset and we don't care who it is. We respect them, we respect their building, we respect their fans. But guess what? We're going to play here, we're going to go back to Toronto and we're going to handle our business."

Biyombo was one of the players general manager Masai Ujiri brought in over the summer to upgrade the team's ailing defence and, in doing so, add an air of toughness - both mentally and physically - that they lacked a year ago.

In the second quarter, he was part of the unit that turned the game, finally slowing down the home team long enough to cut into their lead. Then, midway through the fourth quarter, with the Raptors still knocking on the door, he found himself face-to-face with one of the league's best.

Down by four points, Biyombo came over to set a screen for Cory Joseph - another new Raptor - as Westbrook plowed right through it. To his surprise, the centre was called for an offensive foul. Approaching the Thunder's all-star and getting in his grill, Biyombo was assigned a technical. After the game he had a message for Westbrook and anyone else who expects him or his team to back down from a fight.

"I mean, there is not much you can say about it," Biyombo told the media in Oklahoma City. "You let the image speak for itself, but one thing is nobody is going to punk me. Where I came from, you're not going to do that to me. I know there's a lot of TVs and of course everybody wants to look tough. It's good to look tough on TV and I respect that about everybody, but you're just not going to punk me.

"I respect the game. I play the game with so much respect. I don't play to hurt nobody. If I set a screen, I set a right screen and if they call an offensive foul, then they call a foul and I respect that."

Toughness is not a learned skill, you either have it or you don't. From the 23-year-old Biyombo to Luis Scola, 12 years his senior, to Joseph to do-it-all forward DeMarre Carroll, the Raptors have added pieces that are hardening them. Suddenly this is a very different looking team.

Despite all that they accomplished last year - the quick start, a franchise-record 49 wins - by the end of the season teams were salivating at the thought of facing the Raptors. They were predictable offensively, vulnerable on the boards and couldn't or wouldn't stop anybody. Once adversity hit, they folded. They were soft and paid the price come playoff time.

So what's changed? Well, for starters, this team is manufacturing wins in way we're not used to seeing. They had no business beating the well-rested Thunder on the road, in the second leg of a back-to-back, shooting 42 per cent with just 12 assists on the night, four fewer than Westbrook registered himself.

Instead, they got to the free-throw line 39 times, fought hard enough to hang around and held Oklahoma City to just 17 points on 5-of-20 shooting in the fourth quarter.

"That's what I've said all along. I don't know how many games we're going to win but I do know that we are going to scrap," coach Dwane Casey reiterated after the win. "We're going to compete, play hard and get after people. It was a grind it out type game and that shows mental toughness when you can win when everything isn't clicking like that."

"We stayed resilient," DeMar DeRozan added. "We played defence, we got critical stops, critical defence when we needed it and we got some good buckets down the stretch."

It's not the first time we've seen that resiliency, though this was the most impressive. Through five contests, the Raptors have out-scored opponents by 36 points in the fourth quarter. Over their last two alone, they bested the Mavericks and Thunder 18-3 in the final two minutes to steal both games. Overall, they're holding teams to 40 per cent shooting, the third-best mark in the NBA.

The lineup they've used most often down the stretch features Joseph in the backcourt alongside Kyle Lowry and Carroll playing the four, with DeRozan and Jonas Valanciunas rounding out the frontcourt.

Joseph spent the game's most crucial minutes guarding Westbrook, while Carroll - who didn't take a shot in the fourth - was assigned to Durant. The Thunder's prolific duo of Durant and Westbrook - ranked second and third in the league in scoring respectively - was held to a combined 2-of-10 shooting in the final frame; meanwhile Toronto's top scorers were free to do what they do best. DeRozan attempted five of his 15 free throws in the quarter and Lowry, playing off the ball, came through with a big layup to cut the deficit to two with 90 seconds left.

"I think having me and Cory out there kind of takes the load off of Kyle and DeMar to go down on the other end and score," Carroll said. "I know last year they had to go on one end and guard, then come down and score. I told DeMar in the summer, I said, 'Man you ain't got to worry about guarding KD or LeBron anymore, because I'm here.' And you see what he did when he doesn't have to do that."

"It helps a lot, just something small like that," said DeRozan, who scored a game-high 28 points in the win. "They're experienced guys. They've been in the heat of the moment and understand what it takes to win. So when you've got guys like that it makes your job a lot easier."

Do statement wins exist this early in the season? Perhaps. Perhaps not. But one thing is for certain, Toronto has the league's attention. They're one of only two remaining unbeaten teams. The other: the reigning champion Golden State Warriors.

Here they are again, off to another hot start and, understandably, Casey is cautiously optimistic. He's seen this go south in a hurry. The Raptors' head coach is guarding against the complacency that engulfed his players a year ago. They're not going 82-0 - that much we know - and at some point adversity will strike again.

However, you get the sense that this team isn't going down without a fight.

"It's a marathon, not a sprint," Casey warned. "We've got to maintain this. I told the guys, get off their feet, no running around shopping in Orlando or enjoying the sun, we're on a business trip. We've got to make sure we keep our mind on our business, get our rest, make rest our friend and continue."