Holly MacKenzie - Raptors.com
The postseason awaits. As the Raptors look to tie a franchise record for wins in a season against the Houston Rockets on Friday, another goal was crossed off to-do list on Wednesday. Despite Toronto — playing without Kyle Lowry and Patrick Patterson — falling to the Boston Celtics, a loss by the Chicago Bulls meant the Raptors had officially clinched a spot in the playoffs.
Although Toronto would have preferred to take care of business with a win, clinching was inevitable in a season where the team sits at 48-22 and is 2.5 games back of the first place Cleveland Cavaliers. If it didn’t happen on Wednesday, it was going to happen in one of the days that followed. What happens now is the same thing that has happened all season: trying to take things one game at a time, and finish out the remaining 12 games strong.
As the postseason draws nearer, head coach Dwane Casey will be looking to find rest for guys who have logged heavy minutes, without disrupting the rhythm of the team. While he has stressed they want to win every game possible, having a healthy squad come postseason trumps all.
“We’ve been seeing teams [get players rest],” Luis Scola said. “Those are the things that good teams do. They’re ready to play, they have a lot of players and whatever the situation is you still go out there and compete. You don’t win every time, you don’t play well every time, but you’re out there competing”
Guys who were in the locker room a season ago have learned the hard way that it’s what you do in the postseason that matters more than simply getting there. Although the team was happy to get another step closer to their goals with the news of clinching, the reaction was a low-key one, because there’s more work to be done.
“It’s always great to get in the playoffs,” DeMar DeRozan said. “I know that feeling of going home, and having to sit and watch everybody play. When you have something to look forward to these [next 12] games, this next couple of weeks, that’s when we’ve got to realize we’ve got tighten this up for the real thing.”
Prior to Wednesday’s matchup against the Celtics, Lowry was asked about getting caught up in looking ahead. He quickly dismissed the idea.
“We’re literally taking it one day at a time,” he said. “You start looking forward to things and you can’t control it. You have to worry about your team, your situation that night, that day. That’s what we’ve been doing all year. We’ve been pretty consistent with that and it’s been working for us.”
With another postseason appearance set, the team will try to first tie and then break the franchise record for wins in a season. More than just setting a new record, the Raptors want to close out the year on a high note.
“It’s all about the bigger picture,” DeRozan said. “We got to the playoffs [last season] and understood what it felt like to be eliminated earlier and that gave us more motivation to want to be better and shoot for something higher.”