TORONTO — The Toronto Raptors have been so consistent over the past three calendar years that their fans have almost forgotten what a slump feels like.
The franchise that once just won 16 games in a season has gone more than a year without losing three in a row.
But they headed into Game 38 of the regular season — one that actually had a little bit of extra juice, given they were hosting the surging Boston Celtics — having lost two straight and five-of-seven and were determined to stop the bleeding. Once comfortably in second place in the East — first in the non-LeBron category — the Raptors hosted the Celtics on Tuesday night with the visitor owning a chance to pull even at second.
DeMar DeRozan wouldn’t have it.
The Raptors cornerstone added another chapter in what is unfolding as a storybook season in the first year of his lucrative new contract as he scored 31 of his 41 points in the second half to lead the Raptors to an improbable comeback victory over the Celtics.
It looked like he was determined to return the Raptors to their winning ways, he was told.
“Is that what it looked like?” he said with a knowing smile. “Yeah. It sucks to lose. You are going to lose games in this league but you don’t want to make it something consistent. More than one and if it’s two you want to get into a mode where you are willing to do whatever it takes to make sure you get that win and get that monkey off your back.”
DeRozan took the poor monkey and threw it to the floor. He was very angry with the monkey.
Down nine with six minutes left DeRozan took over, one contested two-point shot at a time, a performance that looked like it had been taken from a time capsule buried in 1977.
“DeRozan made some shots that are very, very, difficult shots,” said Celtics head coach Brad Stevens.
It was beautiful, if you’re into perfectly preserved retro art. He scored 12 points in the final six minutes as the Raptors outscored Boston 23-6 down the stretch on their way to a 114-106 comeback win.
If there was ever any doubt, DeRozan takes very personally all this winning and losing; this might have been his signature expression of it.
“He’s a tough kid,” said Raptors head coach Dwane Casey. “He didn’t grow up in Compton [California] for nothing.”
Since signing on with Kyle Lowry to turn the Raptors into an Eastern Conference mini-power, they haven’t done losing streaks.
“I think it’s the resolve of Kyle and DeMar, their toughness. Patrick [Patterson]. They’ve set the tone, the culture,” Casey said before the game. “We don’t want to lose three games in a row. Does that guarantee that it’s going to happen? No.
“But that’s our thought process, that’s our belief system. It’s difficult to do because there are so many good teams in this league, but you have to go in and say ‘enough.’ Whether it’s one, two or three, ‘enough.’”
The Raptors improved to 25-13 on the season and extended their lead over Boston to two games in the race for second place in the Eastern Conference and 2-0 on the season. It wasn’t pretty. The Raptors played with fire as they gave up 18 turnovers for 25 points — 12 in the first half.
But they locked in defensively — Boston scored just 22 points in the fourth quarter on 36 per cent shooting — and Jonas Valanciunas set about solving the Raptors’ rebounding woes all by himself as he grabbed 23 of them, the most ever by a Raptor at the ACC. What else? Oh yeah, it was DeRozan’s third straight game with at least 35 points, a first for him and for but a small handful of NBA players throughout time. The only other Raptor to do it was Vince Carter in 1999.
DeRozan set the tone with more than his scoring in what was a physical, taut game. With Patrick Patterson struggling in returning from his knee injury — he didn’t score and had just two rebounds in 20 minutes as Casey gave him a rare start — DeRozan grabbed 13 rebounds, 11 on the defensive end.
“So proud of DeMar,” said Casey.
And when the Raptors needed to spark, he lit the fuse. Mad about not getting a foul call DeRozan thumped an otherwise innocent Celtic, Jonas Jerebko, stopping the play so he could glower at referee Josh Tivin with 2:17 left in the third quarter. He followed up by getting a technical foul too. It’s a trait of DeRozan’s. He’s otherwise a pretty calm guy, but every once in a while he takes a frustration foul. Pity the poor opponent who happens to be in the vicinity.
“Them moments, they get you going,” said DeRozan. “They get your adrenalin and everything going, take it up to another level. Everybody else has no other choice but to follow along.”
DeRozan was certainly leading.
After trailing by as many as 16 with five minutes left in the third quarter the Raptors pulled back into it thanks to an inspired DeRozan who bulled his way to 19 points in the third as Toronto held Boston to a more manageable 47 per cent shooting and trimmed the turnovers to four as the Raptors trailed 84-80. It set up a potentially epic fourth quarter showdown between Lowry and the Celtics’ Thomas, who rank second and third in fourth-quarter scoring in the NBA, respectively.
Instead it was DeRozan proving that this win meant a little extra to him.
What was interesting before the game was the approaches of the two teams. The Raptors embraced it as a test:
“They are right behind us so it was one those games — a division game — so many elements came into play and we definitely had to bring our A game and we did tonight,” said DeRozan. “…I think we are due for a rivalry, if it’s them I don’t know. But it’s definitely fun when we play against a Boston team.”
Meanwhile the Celtics went the “just one of 82” route. Celtics head coach Stevens was nearly getting frustrated at having to explain that one single game so early in the season didn’t mean anything extra to him even though it could carry implications for playoff seeding and more.
Any time anyone tried to tease anything from him about the meeting between two teams who will likely be battling for second spot in the East, Stevens deflected and deferred. When asked if he valued having home court in the playoffs he fibbed: “I don’t even think about that stuff,” he said. “I’m sorry, but it hasn’t even crossed my mind.”
The Raptors didn’t try to pretend the game didn’t matter.
“We don’t like ’em because they’re in our division,” said Casey. “Hopefully that’s a good, healthy rivalry, a rivalry between two teams that are right neck and neck with each other. I think that’s healthy. They have a good team, we have a good team.”
The Celtics are now 4-10 against Toronto since Stevens took over as coach. The Celtics’ struggles against Toronto over the past couple of years didn’t stop pundits from picking Boston as the most likely challenger to LeBron James’s hegemony in the East during the summer, thanks in large part to their addition of veteran free agent Al Horford.
But the Raptors aren’t the type to go with the flow. They don’t pretend those kinds of snubs don’t bother them. And DeMar DeRozan? He’s the kind that puts out fires. He’s the type that changes the tide.
It might have been Game 38 of 82, but he was taking it personally after having lost Games 36 and 37, and the Raptors were the beneficiaries.
And if you watched it you won’t forget it.