Raptors hope for consistent play heading into postseason

With a playoff spot secured, the Atlantic Division already won and all of their final eight regular season games set against opponents with losing records, the Toronto Raptors might be tempted hit the cruise control and coast through the next two weeks.

But these Raptors can't afford that luxury.

"Yeah, we have the division and the playoffs made, but we've got to have a better record to get home-court advantage, and we don't have that locked up yet," Toronto coach Dwane Casey said after Tuesday's practice. "Not only that, but let's have pride and professionalism and be better offensively, at moving the ball, and defensively."

The Raptors are sitting fourth in the Eastern Conference with a 44-30 record, one game behind the Chicago Bulls and three up on the Washington Wizards. But winning the Atlantic Division alone doesn't guarantee Toronto home-court advantage; as Casey said, the team still needs to have a better record than its first-round opponent, which at the moment would be Washington.

To maintain that advantage, the Raptors can't rest their playoff-tested veterans in the final weeks, or conserve energy on the court. In fact, their backcourt is already stretched thin, with all-star point guard Kyle Lowry out indefinitely with a back injury.

"We can't play mediocre basketball and then expect to come into Game 1 [of the playoffs] and play at an all-time high if we haven't been playing that way the final eight games of the season," DeMar DeRozan said. "That's our whole motivation now – playing at a high level so it carries over into the playoffs."

Six of the Raptors' final eight games are on the road, starting Wednesday in Minnesota against the Timberwolves. The road can have challenges no matter who a team faces – the Raptors have an 18-17 away record so far this season. And six of Toronto's final eight games are against teams still in the hunt to grab one of the final playoff spots left to be clinched in the East – Brooklyn, Boston, Charlotte and Miami.

Until last Friday's win over the Los Angeles Lakers and Monday's big one over the Houston Rockets, the Raptors had lost eight of their 12 games in March. Houston was the first opponent with a record over .500 that Toronto had toppled since mid February.

"One game doesn't show, 'Hey we're back,'" Casey said, referring to Monday's performance against the Rockets. "We want to show consistency in these last eight games."

Last year, as the Raptors were barnstorming into the NBA playoffs for the first time since 2008, the team finished the regular season ranked ninth in the league in both the offensive- and defensive-efficiency categories. They often dictated the tone of games, outhustled opponents and were resilient.

This year, with eight games remaining, Toronto is third-best in NBA offensive efficiency, but defensively, they are the sixth-worst on the year, and the third-worst in the month of March alone.

When the team lost DeRozan to a groin injury for 21 games, it had to cope without one of its most experienced defenders, one who helped set the slowed pace. The Raptors compensated with a flurry of offence and – to their credit – won some games that way. Yet, they quickly found it wasn't sustainable long term and have tried to regain their defence-first philosophy since he returned.

The win over Houston showed promise. While last year, the Raptors' playoff preparation focused on finding scoring opportunities, this year they're not worried about offence. It's fixing the defence that consumes them down this stretch.

"Any great movie wouldn't be good if it didn't have no thrills and drama," DeRozan said. "We can't let the tough times break us – just use it as motivation and put that chip back onto our shoulders. Maybe we needed that, especially going into the playoffs. We've got to be playing our best basketball if we want to make something happen."