When he finally emerged from the weight room of the Toronto Raptors' practice facility, DeMar DeRozan was not in any hurry.
Not that he had any choice in the matter.
Decked out in black sweatpants and a matching sweatshirt, DeRozan limped his way across the gymnasium toward a gaggle of reporters who wanted his ear early Monday afternoon.
The Raptors all-star had the gait of an old man, with a noticeable hitch in his stride, stepping carefully so as not to aggravate a swollen right ankle he turned the night before during an insufferable 115-103 loss to the Phoenix Suns.
The fact that he moved along in a pair of ratty old black slippers that could have been salvaged from the Salvation Army only seemed to exacerbate the moment. It was a slow, painful journey.
Witnessing it you could not help but believe that DeRozan will be sidelined a lot longer than the two games the club has said he will miss this week.
For a team in a tailspin – having lost three in a row for the first time since 2015 and not looking anything like the crusaders who pushed the Cleveland Cavaliers to six games in the Eastern Conference final last year – this is not welcome news.
"When it rains, it pours sometimes," DeRozan said with a sigh. "You just got to figure that part out."
It is kind of an amusing situation the Raptors find themselves in – a steady season suddenly veering off the rails.
True, the team has played better – much better.
But with a record of 28-16, they are still three games off the pace being set by the NBA champion Cavaliers in the East at the start of play on Monday.
"Next guy up," Toronto coach Dwane Casey proclaimed on Monday, a reference to DeRozan being sidelined. Stay the course.
"Everybody's in panic mode right now," Casey continued. "Now is not the time to panic. We're going through a tough time every team goes through this time every year. And again, it's how you come out of it. We're a little discombobulated with injuries, but that's no excuse. We put ourselves in the position to win the game [Sunday night] and didn't come through with it. Our rhythm is off offensively. Shots that guys were making – same shots they were making earlier [in the season] – we're missing now."
And now DeRozan, their all-star and leading scorer, who has been averaging 27.9 points a game, is on the shelf – at least for Tuesday's home encounter against the always formidable San Antonio Spurs and again for Wednesday's game in Memphis against the Grizzlies.
The Raptors said DeRozan's condition would be reassessed prior to Friday's game against the Milwaukee Bucks at Air Canada Centre. But judging from how he was (not) getting along on Monday, don't hold your breath.
"We've been fortunate to put ourselves in a good position of being in second in the East, so it's not like we're chopped liver," Casey said, trying to calm the waters. "We shouldn't be in a situation where we're dropping our shoulders and saying, 'Woe is me, the world is falling in, the sky's falling.' We're going through a tough time, and that's the NBA. We've got to be tough people to go through it."
The Raptors have struggled at both ends of the court over the past three games.
Casey will tell you that what goes on at the offensive end has a direct bearing on the club's defensive performance, and the numbers bear that out.
One of the NBA's top offensive clubs all season, the Raptors are shooting just 37.6 per cent from the floor in their past three outings – and just 24.7 per cent from beyond the three-point arch. After averaging 110 points an outing all season, Toronto's production dipped to just 90 in the three losses compared with 107.3 by the opposition. On the year, Toronto has a defensive rating (points allowed per 100 possessions) of 109.2 – 21st out of 30 teams.
"When you're not making shots, the first thing that goes, your shoulders drop, you lose a little concentration," Casey said. "We've got to get to the next plan mentality. Missed a shot? Okay, let's go and play defence.
"Right now, one of our issues, we're carrying some of our missed shots down to the defensive end and not locking in defensive, not doing what we're supposed to do defensively."
Casey did not say what his plans are for his starting lineup Tuesday night against the Spurs.
One bet might be inserting Norman Powell into DeRozan's spot. How about Terrence Ross?
"T-Ross is a very good three-point shooter. Norm is a good three-point shooter," Casey said. "We have other guys that can do it in different ways within the offensive sets that we have. So we've got to make up for it in different ways.
"It's a challenge any time you lose a dynamic player like DeMar. But we done it before – we've lost other players before."