DeMar DeRozan came alive for 34 points in Game 5 against the Miami Heat. Is it the turning point Raptors fans have been waiting for?
After struggling to find his shot for the first eleven games of the 2016 NBA playoffs, DeMar DeRozan seemed to replicate his regular season form in Wednesday night’s Game 5 victory over the Miami Heat, putting up 34 points on 11/22 shooting from the field and 11/11 from the line. It was a welcome sight for Raptors fans who have been frustrated with the performance of their All-Star shooting guard. Despite never being the most efficient offensive player to begin with, DeRozan’s struggles were reaching historic proportions.
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The question for Raptors fans is whether Game 5’s performance is an indication that DeRozan finally made the necessary adjustments to succeed in the playoffs, or if he just had a hot hand for a single night?
The first indicator to look at would be shot selection. DeRozan has received fair criticism for poor shot selection and an inability to adjust during this postseason. In fact, his shot selection seemed to worsen this postseason, with 36% of his shots being 2-point field goals from 16 feet or further, as opposed to only 21% during the regular season. Despite the belief that DeRozan’s shot has been the problem, it is actually his shot selection that is doing the most damage as his shooting percentage from 16 feet or further has maintained his regular season average of 36%. Looking specifically at last night’s performance, DeRozan took 10 of his 22 shots from 16 feet and beyond, even higher than his current postseason average. Half of those shots went in, lending to the belief that DeRozan simply had a strong night shooting the ball, and Toronto fans shouldn’t get ahead of themselves in expecting consistent All-Star performances from him.
The second indicator would be the prevalence of uncontested jump shots. One obvious takeaway from last night’s game was the pace of the Raptors offense. The high screen with Biyombo was used to great effect and strong ball movement helped to open up a lot of attempts, which was particularly noticeable with Kyle Lowry as he took 12 uncontested field goals. DeRozan on the other hand still dealt with contested field goals as 17 of his 22 shots were contested field goals. Surprisingly (or maybe not so much), over 50% of these contested field goals dropped for DeRozan last night.
Unfortunately, these numbers likely won’t fill Raptors fans with a lot of confidence for a repeat performance from DeRozan in the potential series clinching Game 6 in Miami on Friday night. However, to embrace a positive outlook, players can get hot for lengthy stretches where everything they do seems to work. This was certainly the case with DeMar DeRozan last night at the Air Canada Centre, and Raptors fans can hope that DeRozan runs with the confidence gained from his 34 point night and is able to heat up ahead of a hopeful Conference finals matchup with the Cleveland Cavaliers where Toronto’s All-Stars will need to be firing on all cylinders to keep up with the star studded lineup of Lebron James and company.
All stats are provided by Basketball-Reference.com unless otherwise stated.