Toronto, Ontario - March 18, 2015 -- ANDREW WIGGINS-- Toronto Raptors Grieves Vasquez celebrates his basket with Lou Williams (R) against the Minnesota Timberwolves during the second half of their NBA basketball game in Toronto, Wednesday March 18, 2015Mark Blinch/The Globe and Mail
There were times during last year's playoff series between the Toronto Raptors and Brooklyn Nets when Toronto lacked scoring punch, when a strong reliance on fourth-quarter heroics from Kyle Lowry simply wasn't a sustainable recipe for postseason success.
This year, Toronto goes into the playoffs with the sharp-shooting Lou Williams in the fold, a leading candidate for the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year Award, and a guy with five trips to the postseason under his belt. The question is: How much can that help in propelling them past last year's first-round exit?
Williams had been a key part of the Atlanta Hawks roster since arriving from the Philadelphia 76ers before the 2012-13 season, because of his well-known knack for scoring off the bench. But after a knee injury in early 2013 and a long layoff, Williams hadn't regained his form in Atlanta. The Hawks dumped salary in the off-season and traded him to the Raptors. When he arrived in Toronto, he was ready for a fresh start and to be a big contributor once again.
"Last year, for me, I just called that a throwaway season," Williams said during his first month with the Raptors.
Lou Williams has averaged 15. 5 points a game this season, the best of his 10 years in the NBA, as he often spurred energetic comeback runs. The highly-valued Raptor is playing 25.2 minutes a night and has hit numerous buzz-beating end-of-quarter or game-winning shots.
April has been his best month this season, a period in which he averaged 20.3 points and handled 29.3 minutes a night off the bench.
Williams's value was made even more obvious Wednesday night during Toronto's 82nd and final regular-season game, when the team chose to limit his activity to keep him fresh for the playoffs. Going into Wednesday night, he had played in all but one of Toronto's games this season, and according to coach Dwane Casey, was feeling some general soreness.
His strength as a candidate has been bolstered by the fact that when Kyle Lowry was out with a back injury and DeMar DeRozan missed time with a groin injury, Williams was counted upon to run plays, control the point and often defend the other team's point guard.
This year's team has 230 games worth of playoff experience among them, although four of them only experienced it for the first time last season. It's a jump from a year ago when they opened the post-season with 152 games of playoff in total, and aside from John Salmons, almost none of them had ever been a key contributor in a playoff series before.
The wily 6-foot-2, 175 pound guard brings 37 games worth. Tyler Hansbrough is the only Raptor to have played in more with his 38 games.
Williams played 19 minutes a game for the Hawks in last year's playoffs, he averaged 8.3 points. This will be his sixth appearance in the NBA playoffs – four with Philadelphia and one with Atlanta, where he averaged 10.6 points over 24.5 minutes.
Other likely candidates include Isaiah Williams of the Boston Celtics, Jamal Crawford of the Los Angeles Clippers and Andre Iguodala of the Golden State Warriors.
The 28-year-old Raptor was humble when reporters asked him about the possibility of earning the honour.
"It would be just one more thing for this team to accomplish this year," Williams said.
Rachel Brady