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TSN Raptors Reporter

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TORONTO – In Saturday’s series opener against Washington, a game some players referred to as a ‘must-win’, the Raptors wound up victorious despite getting just 17 points from their leading scorer, DeMar DeRozan.

With Cleveland in town in early January, the Raptors cruised to a statement 34-point win on U.S. national television. DeRozan scored 13.

A month later they beat the Celtics by 20 with DeRozan scoring 15 and just two weeks ago, in another big win over Boston – the game that essentially locked up first place – the all-star had 16 points.

The Raptors no longer depend on big scoring nights from DeRozan to win important games, which speaks to the team’s depth and the veteran guard’s improved ability to read the defence and make an impact in other ways. That’s not to say they can’t still use them though.

“We needed every point,” Dwane Casey said after DeRozan poured in 37 of them, tying a playoff career-high in Toronto’s 130-119 Game 2 victory on Tuesday. “He showed offensive toughness. They were into him, they were doing a lot of switching. We figured that’s what they were probably gonna do and he did a good job of attacking it, attacking the blitzes early in the game, just all-around reading. That's just through his maturity. He’s grown a lot from that standpoint. Two years ago, I don’t know what he would have done. He did an excellent job of reading what the defence was doing to him and making ’em pay.”

This was not the DeRozan of old, the ‘empty the clip’ version that would have needed 30-plus shots to score 37 points. It took just 23. He hit three three-pointers – also matching a postseason personal best – and got to the free throw line eight times.

At 28 and in his ninth NBA season, DeRozan has grown more methodical in his approach and the way he sees the floor. In the early moments of Game 2, he eased his way into the offence, as he’s done most of the season – looking to get teammates going and, most importantly, surveying the coverage. The Wizards were still throwing extra defenders at him and Kyle Lowry, like they did on Saturday, but they were more conscious of the other three guys on the floor after Toronto’s role players burnt them in Game 1.

All DeRozan needed was that sliver of space. Over seven minutes went by before he hit his first shot, with the Raptors already up by 13, but he would finish the opening quarter with 13 of his team’s 44 points.

Toronto led by as many as 22 points before John Wall and the Wizards made their fourth-quarter run to pull within five. A C.J. Miles three-ball stopped the bleeding and then DeRozan took over from there. He scored eight of the Raptors’ next 10 points to put the game on ice. He put up some tough shots, as is his way, but at no point did he looked rushed or in over his head. He got to his spots and made the plays his team needed him to make.

“I’m like Neo,” said DeRozan when asked if the game has slowed down for him, also joking that Lowry is Morpheus.

Only he didn’t have to take the red or blue pill to enter the Matrix. His evolution from high volume scorer to game manager is the result of hard work and fully buying into Toronto’s new offensive system.

Casey remembers a meeting he had with DeRozan and Lowry at the tail end of a tough six-game road trip early in November. The Raptors were in Utah, coming off a bad loss to Denver, and had a 4-3 record to start the season. Neither player had a good feel for the offence yet. They weren’t sure where their shots were coming from or how they could help the team with fewer minutes and fewer touches, but Casey implored them to stay the course. That’s where things really clicked for DeRozan, according to his head coach.

“My hat is off to him because to ask him to change his mindset offensively is tough,” Casey said. “You take any star player in this league and tell them to change their style of play to fit the team, it’s a commendable thing for him and it’s not easy to do.”

Only 36 per cent of DeRozan’s field goal attempts came from mid-range this season after he took nearly half his shots (48 per cent of them) between the paint and the three-point line last year. Twenty-one per cent of his shots came from beyond the arc, up from nine per cent in 2016-17. Meanwhile, his assist percentage (24.5, up from 20.4) was a career-best.

The supporting cast deserves credit, too. Unlike in past years, they’ve clearly earned DeRozan’s trust with their strong and consistent play throughout the season. However, it’s DeRozan’s willingness to sacrifice and his improved instincts as a playmaker that has allowed those other guys to blossom. One doesn’t happen without the other.

“I just let the game come to me, flow of the game. I go based off that,” said DeRozan, sitting alongside Lowry on the podium after Game 2. “These days, it’s not like I have to have the mindset of scoring 30 or 40 points. I go out there and play aggressive.”

“You had 37, what do you mean?,” Lowry interjected, playfully.

DD: “I didn’t go out there saying, ‘Let me score 30 tonight.’ ”

KL: “I’m just saying, you scored 37. Don’t say it like you didn’t. All I’m saying is you can’t go out there and say you didn’t get 37.”

DD: “Listen to what I’m saying. I’m trying to explain.”

KL: “OK. OK. I understand what you’re saying.”

DD: “No you don’t. Listen to me. Like I said, I didn’t go out there planning to score 37 points. I went out there to be aggressive. And with my aggressiveness came those 37 points.”

This is the NBA’s most endearing bromance at its finest, music to the ears of Raptors fans. Like a barometer of team success, you can often tell how things are going for Toronto based solely on how much these two are yucking it up on the podium.

A year ago around this time, the Raptors were in a bad place. They were down 2-1 in their first-round series with Milwaukee after dropping Game 3 by 27 points. DeRozan was shooting an atrocious 16-for-47 (33 per cent) to begin the playoffs, including an 0-for-8 performance in the latest loss. At 12-for-33 (36 per cent), Lowry wasn’t much better.

In a memorable off-day press conference, Lowry slouched back in his chair and promised to “force” more shots. DeRozan shared a similar sentiment, albeit with less alarming body language and a better choice of words. Casey repeated variations of a familiar endorsement: for better or for worse, they were prepared to “ride or die” with the two all-stars and their shot selection.

Not only is the mood completely different now, with Toronto leading a playoff series 2-0 for the first time in franchise history, but so is the mentality. Neither DeRozan nor Lowry is forcing anything and the Raptors aren’t reliant on any one or two players to carry them.

“I made a lot of great reads in Game 1, passing the ball and understanding where we can get easy shots,” DeRozan said. “I understood Game 2 was going to be different. We all try to put our mark on the game and be aggressive. That led to me passing the ball more a little more [in Game 1]. [In Game 2] it led me to scoring the ball. I’m pretty sure everybody’s going to have their night. It’s not going to be me every single night. That was that.”