#ProveEm Playoffs – 7 Thoughts Heading Down the Final Stretch

Championship Mindset

For too long, the Raptors have worn the soft label,  a team entirely void of the killer instinct that elite teams display with scary regularity. Paul Pierce referred to them as lacking ‘It.’

Some use a Hunter/Hunted comparison and the Raptors have, for years, been hunting. Toronto must alter their mindset. They are now the hunted. A lack of attention paid to them on the part of United States media is not indicative of what opponents are saying, thinking, or doing prior to playing them.

Dwane Casey won a title in Dallas as an assistant. For all the criticism thrown his way, far less this season compared to season’s past, he more than any Toronto player understands what goes into winning an NBA title.

The Raptors have suffered from a reluctance to ramp up intensity meter once playoff time rolls around. If the No.1 seed is to be grasped, they will need to avoid getting comfortable down the stretch and instead adopt a playoff mindset weeks before the real fun begins.

"“My job with our guys is to make the comfortable uncomfortable and the uncomfortable comfortable, and you’ve got to do that. That’s the tone we’ve got to set. There’s nobody here that should feel satisfied or feel like, ‘Oh, we’ve got a cushion.’ No. No way, no how.” – Dwane Casey (via Eric Koreen @ The Athletic)"