As the Eastern Conference’s No. 1 seed, expectations are high for the Toronto Raptors to go on a deep post-season run and potentially reach the NBA Finals – but first they’ll be looking to exact some revenge.
The first obstacle in Toronto’s way is the Washington Wizards, the team that handed the Raptors their most dreadful, downright embarrassing post-season defeat in franchise history.
Three years ago the Raptors were coming off what was then a franchise-record 49 wins, a second consecutive Atlantic Division crown, and momentum built off a surprise 2014 playoff appearance. Then the post-season rolled around and the Raptors ended up laying an egg, getting swept by Washington despite being the No. 4 seed with home-court advantage.
There’s no way to sugarcoat it, Toronto stunk up the joint in that series. Playing with little energy for long stretches and looking altogether shell-shocked, the Raptors took home some valuable lessons from that humiliation and have turned their fortunes around with 56-, 51- and 59-win seasons and a conference final berth to boot ever since.
That doesn’t mean the team would’ve suddenly forgotten about 2015, though. While it’s true these Raptors are quite a bit different than the group that last played the Wizards in the playoffs, the core of DeMar DeRozan, Kyle Lowry and Jonas Valanciunas is still here and seeing as Washington’s personnel is almost identical to what it was before, it won’t be hard for that Raptors trio to remember just how bad things got and how they can ensure they don’t make the same mistakes again.
Painful as it may be, reviewing what went wrong is oftentimes the best way to learn, so with that in mind here’s a look back at the 2015 Raptors-Wizards first-round series with some conclusions as to how Toronto can make sure history doesn’t repeat itself.
Game 1: 93-86 (OT)
The Skinny: This was Toronto’s best game of the entire series. Greivis Vasquez drilled a triple with 25.9 seconds left to tie it up at 82 and send the game into overtime, but then, Game 1 curse jokes aside, the team was completely snake-bit in the extra period going 2-for-11 in OT and not scoring until 29.8 ticks left – a recipe for defeat if there ever was one.
What can be learned from this: The Raptors were looking good heading into overtime and then collapsed. Yes, you can argue that they just happened to miss shots at the wrong time, but when the majority of the looks are contested DeRozan mid-range jumpers and contested Vasquez and Lou Williams triples it’s easy to see just how the offence wasn’t able to do much.
Something like this happening in clutch moments shouldn’t be much of an issue this go-around. Toronto successfully changed its offensive philosophy this season, relying on ball and man movement as opposed to isolation plays to generate scoring opportunities so you should expect the Raptors to find good looks at all times now.
Additionally, Lowry fouled out in the fourth quarter of that 2015 Game 1, so Toronto’s best clutch shooter was unavailable, something that’s very unlikely to happen again in any game this post-season.
Game 2: 117-106
The Skinny: Quite possibly the worst loss in Raptors history. Sure, there have been games lost by a wider margin, but in the context of having lost Game 1, and home-court advantage, to then respond with almost nothing on the defensive end makes this stinker tough to beat.
What can be learned from this: As tired a sports cliché as this is, what the Raptors needed to do in that game was find a way to fight through the adversity and punch back after getting knocked down.
In the second quarter of that contest, the Raptors were outscored 34-18. That’s bad, but what’s even worse is coming out of the half the Raptors allowed the Wizards to hang 37 on them in the third quarter. It spoke to the team’s mental fortitude as it had appeared that the players had almost resigned themselves to defeat midway through the third. That can’t happen – particularly on their home floor.
Bouncing back after defeat is something the Raptors have gotten better at over the years but, as the sweep last year to Cleveland proves, this appears to still be something upon which the team needs to improve.
Game 3: 106-99
The Skinny: After an abysmal Game 2 effort, the Raptors played much better beginning with DeRozan going off for 20 first-quarter points. Unfortunately for Toronto, Wall was on top of his game that night as well, commanding it from the outset with what looked like an unstoppable pick-and-roll attack with Marcin Gortat.
Couple this with the why the Wizards brought in Paul Pierce and you have the Raptors’ most heart-breaking loss of the 2015 post-season.
What can be learned from this: First of all, Pierce, Mr. Raptors Killer, is retired so there’s no worrying about his “it” factor.
More important is seeing how Wall dominated the Raptors in this game with Gortat; a good example of what is likely to come. Granted, Wall may not be at full throttle this year as he’s just come back from a knee injury but the concept still applies.
It’s a known fact that Valanciunas struggles to defend in space, which is the exact scenario in which Washington will be trying to get the Raptors centre, meaning, as an adjustment, coach Dwane Casey and Co. may consider going to the likes of Pascal Siakam and/or Jakob Poeltl earlier than usual in the coming series.
Game 4: 125-94
The Skinny: An appropriately terrible ending to a terrible series for the Raptors. Lowry picked up three first-quarter fouls, the team shot 43.9 per cent from the field and the Wizards drilled 15 triples in the game.
What we learned here: As mentioned before, Lowry’s foul trouble is no longer an issue so the odds of seeing him rack up calls like he did in that Game 4 are slim.
That Game 4 was more an old-fashioned butt-whipping than anything else, but one thing that does stand out is the role players – besides Williams – weren’t much of any factor. And while this was a concern in 2015, this year you could say the Raptors’ secondary players are among their most productive. Depth certainly isn’t a thing the Raptors need to worry about heading into the playoffs.
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