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Raptors embracing national look-past, Bosh ruled out, Lowry stayed inbounds, and other practice notes

The Raptors have apparently lost the East Semifinals, 1-0.

The Toronto Raptors lost Game 1 on Tuesday night. But oh, it was so much more, to the people outside of the series.

LeBron-Wade showdown
Dwyane Wade may have been understating things when he said the Heat had to win the game twice last night – apparently they won it four times. At least, that’s what THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA (rabble rabble) would have you believe. I’m not kidding – LeBron James, up 1-0 in his own Eastern Conference Semifinal, is already being asked about a potential matchup opposite Dwyane Wade and his former team next round.

“Throughout my whole career, I’ve always wanted to go against [Dwyane] Wade in a playoff series,” James said, via ESPN. “We’ve always talked about it even before we became teammates in ’10. It’s not been heavy on my mind, but it’s crossed my mind throughout my whole career.”

That’s mostly harmless, except for the taboo of counting your chips at the table, but it does feed in to the Raptors’ continued othering, where Casey is using perceived slights to help motivate his squad.

“I’ve said this before, nobody respects us,” Casey said. “Everybody has written us off and that’s fine. The people in this building right now, in that locker room over there, are the most important people to believe that. Hopefully our guys take that to heart and take offense to it…They’re the ones that can do something about it.”

The Raptors aren’t taking it quite so personally, it doesn’t seem, but they’re definitely taking notice. Here’s what a few had to say.

Kyle Lowry: “I mean, I’m sure we are looked at as the underdog, but we are the two seed. We still have the confidence to win four games. But everybody has their own opinion, everyone has their own thoughts. Let ESPN talk about it. That’s what they do, they have their opinions. We have our opinions, you guys have y’all opinions, it’s opinions. They still have to beat us three more times.”

Patrick Patterson: “It’s been like that since I’ve been here. It’s nothing new as far as us not getting the respect that I feel like we deserve collectively as a team or also individually. It’s something we face every single day and something that we’re okay with because at the end of the day it’s us in the locker room versus the world. We have no problem with that at all.”

The Heat, meanwhile, opted not to play into the hype. Wade told Manny Navarro that he won’t talk about LeBron “until we get four wins” Alas, it’s probably going to be a while before Wade can talk, then, if he can at all.

Lowry in good spirits after late-night shooting session
Kyle Lowry’s search to rediscover his jump shot was covered in detail this morning. At practice, the All-Star point guard was in good spirits, clearly lifted by the energy his Maple Leafs hat and the prospect of Auston Matthews brought him.

Lowry spoke about shooting until 1:15 in the morning, not only looking to find his shot but no have fun and remind himself that it’s just basketball. It was maybe the best media sessions I’ve been to involving Lowry, as he was funny, self-deprecating, and insightful all at the same time.

“Just being a kid. Just getting out back and trying to picture, it’s basketball, it’s fun,” Lowry said. “This is a game I would do, I’ve done, I’ve played it before. I’ve probably shot worse than this sometime in my career, I’ve had games this season where I’ve shot 20%. So it’s just a stretch that I’m in that’s pretty tough right now.”

Lowry jokingly asked how many threes he needs to hit to get back to even 35 percent (15 in a row), asked himself how he keeps missing shots, and credited the team’s bigs for getting him a pretty steady diet of admittedly uncontested looks. When it was pointed out that he was being unbelievably honest, Lowry was clear again that he won’t hide.

“What else could I do? Why be anything I’m not?” Lowry asked. “For me to be honest, I’m always truthful with you all…for the most part, except for when I’m injured. But what else am I going to do? I know the pressures I put on myself. I know we won’t advance if I don’t play better. I live with this. This is what I do. I have to play better for us to be a good team to win games.”

For what it’s worth, there was little mention of his elbow, and Lowry said he went over plenty of video and determined that there’s nothing mechanically wrong beyond an occasional fade or drift here or there. Maybe I’m bein naive, but I really do think he’ll come out of the slump soon. But he’s not doing it for me.

“I’m not doing it for anything, I’m doing it for myself,” Lowry said of the attention his late-night session received. “I work hard, no matter what. I’ve done it a few times this season it’s nothing new for us. It’s the playoffs, people are seeing I’m struggling. I’m not doing it for any particular person but myself.”

Don’t do it for the fans, fans never notice, he just do it for himself, ’cause his shot’s the coldest. Right, Drake?

Whiteside sore but ready for Game 2
Hassan Whiteside is mostly fine after straining his right knee (and aggravating his thigh) in the first quarter of Game 1. He and Wade both got treatment at practice Wednesday but expect to be ready to go for Game 2, per Ira Winderman.

No surprise there, as Whiteside was fairly effective in playing 39 (!!) minutes despite a short absence. He only scored nine points but pulled in 17 rebounds, did a solid job on Jonas Valanciunas face-ups, and protected the rim as usual. The Heat were a plus-eight with him on the floor and a minus-two in the nine minutes he sat. He’s a problem, but an even higher usage rate for Valanciunas may be in order to counteract Whiteside’s impact some.

Last Two Minute Report
The NBA released it’s Last Two Minute Report for Game 1 on Wednesday afternoon, and woah boy, did the Raptors ever get some breaks. Here are the 12 calls from the last seven minutes of the game that the NBA ruled were called incorrectly on the court, eight of which favored Toronto:

  • 1:31, 4th: Biyombo should have been called for an offensive foul on Deng.
  • 0:35.7, 4th: Winslow should have been called for a trip on Lowry.
  • 0:08.7, 4th: Valanciunas should have been called for a moving screen on Wade.
  • 3:53, OT: Deng should have been called for a travel.
  • 3:25, OT: Whiteside should have been called for a defensive three-seconds.
  • 3:14, OT: Valanciunas should have been called for a defensive three-seconds.
  • 3:12, OT: Dragic should have been called for a travel.
  • 2:51, OT: Valanciunas should have been called for an illegal screen on Deng.
  • 2:10, OT: Valanciunas should have been called for an illegal screen on Dragic.
  • 1:01, OT: Carroll should have been called for a defensive three-seconds.
  • 0:15.1, OT: Carroll should have been called for a five-second inbounding violation.
  • 0:10.6, OT: Carroll should have been called for a hold on Wade on the pivotal inbound turnover.

Well, hard to get too worked up over that as a Raptors fan. The inbound play in question is the one on which the Raptors forced a turnover, with Carroll clearly identifying the play-call, a Heat standard, beforehand.

It’s also worth noting that the review ruled there is no conclusive evidence that Lowry stepped out of bounds on his game-winner, despite some people going Zapruder with the admittedly tough angles.

Assorted

The Miami Heat announced that Chris Bosh is officially out for the remainder of the playoffs, putting an end to any speculation about a potential return in this series.

Carroll opted not to comment on some issues he had with Goran Dragic’s play. He also had some typically Carroll advice for the struggling Lowry, who he said needs to look in the mirror and remind himself he’s Kyle Lowry. Honestly shocked that Carroll didn’t drop a “Mother…” there.

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