No Celebration For Raptors Playoff Win. Focused On Miami
By Lindsay Dunn
“It’s something that we did. It is over with. We have to prepare for round two”
The wait is over for the Toronto Raptors. Kyle Lowry uttered those words after practice on Monday afternoon, less than 24 hours after the Raptors made it to the second round of the playoffs in 21 seasons.
“I started reading the book last night. I didn’t really celebrate the win so much because there is such a quick turn around. Anything we did in the last series doesn’t really matter. I mean there are things we can learn from and improve on but we have to look at the Miami Heat and what the players do.”
Lowry wasn’t the only player to hit the books as soon as the left the Air Canada Centre on Sunday night.
“As my uncle says, enjoy it until midnight. We will enjoy it until midnight then forget about the Indiana Pacers and focus on the Miami Heat.” DeMarre Carroll said after the game 7 victory. “They are a very good team who are playing at a high level right now. We got to be ready for when they step into our house.”
“I think as soon as I got back to my apartment I started to look over the scouting report and play books for them.” echoed rookie Norman Powell. “Everybody is more locked in and focused.In the playoffs, the physicality picks up. Each possession is more intense. The guys are a lot more locked in and do whatever it takes to find that extra edge to get past your opponent.”
Powell has been impressive in the series against Indiana. It took him a moment to find his feet after a less than noteworthy first game where he contributed five points, three assists and two turnovers. A few games in and Powell was forcing turnovers, was helping ball movement and in game 7 hit 3 of his 4 three-point attempts. He now goes from guarding George to one of his childhood idols.
“Dwyane Wade is one of the guys I modelled my games after growing up.” Powell said after Monday’s practice. “He was a role model for me in the game of basketball so it’s going to be fun for me for the minutes I do get against him to guard him. I mean I have been watching him all my life so I am looking forward to the challenge.”
Sunday’s 89-84 win over the Pacers was the first game-7 win in franchise history for the Raptors. “Whenever you come out of a nail bitter like this it always gives you confidence” said Cory Joseph, the only Raptor who has held the Larry O’Brien Trophy. “ We have got to understand that each series is different, each game is different so we got to prepare for Miami.”
“Preparing for Miami is a lot different than preparing for Indiana”. Lowry said. “They are an in the paint team. So we have to do our job of getting back in transition and keeping them out of the paint.”
Throughout the series the All-Star backcourt shot poorly. In the first game, Lowry and DeMar DeRozan both struggled. Lowry was 3 of 13 in field-goal attempts while DeRozan was 5 of 19. It doesn’t stop there they were also 1 for 10 from 3-point range and missed 7 free-throw attempts. In the blowout of game 6 where the Raptors lost 101-83 Derozan scored eight points and was 3 of 13. Game 7 is when it mattered and as Coach Casey says it best “DeRozan got his swagger back”. DeRozan scored 30 points (was 10 of 32).
Coach Dwane Casey believes his team will not play as tight as they did against the Pacers now that they are finally past the first round.
“ They will play freer, play basketball not worry about history and everything everyone is writing and who is going to be here who is not going to be here.” Casey said. “I think guys will be freer now. We have a tough Miami team coming after we had a tough Indiana team . It’s going to be a physical battle just like this series was so we can’t relax but I think the team will be play freer.”
Game 1 is Tuesday night at 8pm EST in Toronto.
Bonus content:
If you weren’t glued to your TV at midnight watching post game interviews you may have missed this moment from Dwane Casey and Masai Ujiri.