If they beat the New York Knicks on Thursday night, the Toronto Raptors would set a franchise record for consecutive wins with 10, but the team remains indifferent to their impressive streak.
“I’m more worried about New York,” coach Dwane Casey said at practice on Thursday. “New York manhandled us the first time. I don’t care if it’s two in a row, or if they’ve lost three in a row, this is a team that’s coming in that’s dangerous.”
Star shooting guard DeMar DeRozan took the apathy one step further by being completely unaware the Raptors were closing in on a franchise milestone.
“I didn’t even know it was a franchise record honestly,” DeRozan admitted. “We really don’t pay to much attention to it; we just trying to go out and take advantage of every opportunity we can whenever we have a game and that’s all we’ve been doing.”
The last time the Raptors took on the Knicks they lost 111-109 on Nov. 10 at the Air Canada Centre.
“We were a different team then,” DeRozan recalls. “We’ve come a long way, but they have as well.”
Casey was more direct about the team’s performance in the early-season loss.
“They kicked our butt,” he said. “They came in and manhandled us. They were physical and outworked us in the paint.”
Ultimately for the Raptors coach, his team redeeming themselves for that performance means far more than a chance to set a team record.
“The streak’s not important,” Casey said. “It’s important for the fans, it’s great for that. But for what we’re going to do guys can tell you our practices are the same, our shootarounds are the same. We don’t talk about winning streaks.”
