TORONTO — If you’ve spent enough time listening to Toronto Raptors head coach Dwane Casey speak publicly, you’re surely familiar with his favourite expressions.
“We were playing through mud.”
“It’s a make or miss league.”
“Our passes need to be on time and on target.”
When part of your job is fielding dozens of variations of the same questions on a daily basis, it helps to have some go-to responses at the ready. Take this week. With all the achievements that have come Toronto’s way — top seed in the Eastern Conference for the first time, a franchise record for wins, a fourth Atlantic division title in the past five seasons — Casey’s had to answer a lot of questions about his team’s success. So, he’s leaned on a new one.
“We’re gratified,” he’ll say. “But not satisfied.”
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That’s why you shouldn’t expect to see extended rest for any of Toronto’s regulars over the final week of the regular season, as the Raptors play three games that are inconsequential to the standings, but quite meaningful to reinforcing the intensity and style of play Casey and his team are trying to carry into the playoffs.
Of course, don’t count on Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan, Jonas Valanciunas or Serge Ibaka playing 40 minutes a night, or seeing fourth-quarter time in a blowout. And certainly don’t expect to see them playing through any considerable physical ailments. One or two of those players may even get to sit out one of the remaining three games.
But Casey won’t be dramatically pulling back their workloads as his team prepares for the beginning of the playoffs next weekend. There won’t be any shutdowns.
“That’s bullcrap,” Casey said when asked about resting players down the stretch. “We may give a guy some time, but we can’t think rest. We’ve got to think rhythm.
“If you’ve been around the last couple years, you’ve seen what just total shutting guys down for a few games does to your body. You may rest a guy for a few minutes or a game. But there won’t be anybody that’s going to take the rest of these three games off. Because we’re just now, these last couple games, getting a sense of rhythm. It’s not like we’re travelling. We don’t have the long practices. So, what rest?”
Fair enough. The Raptors took the day off Saturday, which means the team will not be practicing between now and the end of the regular season. Toronto plays back-to-back against the Orlando Magic and Detroit Pistons Sunday and Monday, meaning Tuesday will be an off day as well. Then, Wednesday, the Raptors complete their schedule in Miami against the Heat.
Not only does Casey want to see his regulars carry over the improved defensive focus and intensity they’ve shown in their last two games (Toronto held Boston to 78 points on Wednesday, and Indiana to only 73 on Friday), he also wants to introduce some new wrinkles to the team’s offence.
“We have a lot of mental stuff to work on, nuances,” Casey said. “You’re not going to have a lot of huge changes. But we’re going to add some things offensively within what we already have.”
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Most importantly, he doesn’t want his team falling out of sync. The Raptors have put up two tremendous efforts against playoff-bound teams this week after struggling through a concerning slump in mid-to-late March. Casey and the Raptors hope they’re out of the weeds. But they can prove they are with similar efforts over these final three contests, particularly the next two which will come against teams with nothing to play for.
“The main thing we’ve got to do is what we’ve done the last couple nights,” Casey said. “I thought our intensity and our give-a-crap level has been much higher than it was in previous games. That’s what it is. This league is about playing hard and toughness. And I thought we showed that in the last couple games.”
Raptors make their case for VanVleet
There will be a crowded field of deserving candidates for the NBA’s sixth man of the year award this season.
Lou Williams got off to an incredible start and is averaging 22.5 points per game for the L.A. Clippers. Last year’s winner Eric Gordon has been even better than he was last season with the Houston Rockets, upping his field goal percentage and points-per-game while getting to the free throw line more often.
Then there’s Denver’s Will Barton who seems to work his way into the discussion every season; Miami’s Wayne Ellington, who’s played a key role on a somewhat surprising playoff team, and Boston’s Terry Rozier who’s having a breakout campaign in his third season.
But if you ask DeRozan, one player isn’t getting the consideration he deserves: Fred VanVleet.
“I don’t know why. I haven’t heard it much, but Fred should be sixth-man of the year,” DeRozan said. “At least mentioned, talked about. The things he’s been doing, leading that second group as a second-year player, it’s incredible.”
Toronto’s offence is so collaborative, and its second unit features so many players capable of producing at strong levels, that VanVleet likely won’t have as strong of a traditional statistical case as the other candidates.
But his 12.3 net rating — the fifth-highest mark in the league — speaks to the elements he brings to the game that don’t show up in conventional stats. And how much better the Raptors play with him on the floor than off.
“Fred VanVleet is one of the great stories in our league,” Casey said. “I see a young Kyle Lowry in Fred VanVleet as far as his level of play, his toughness, his basketball IQ. It’s his second year in the league, he’s leading a team that’s at the top of the conference, putting up the numbers he’s putting up to help us win — he should be in a lot of conversations.”
