TORONTO - In sports, we spend so much time talking about body language. It is supposed to be emblematic of everything that is either right or wrong with a team or a player. It is supposed to be all encompassing. It is supposed to be definitive.
If it were all of those things, DeMar DeRozan would have been a bust in Game 2, and his Toronto Raptors surely would have lost. In the third quarter, when Joe Johnson was dominating him in the post, DeRozan chewed out his teammates for not providing the help. In the fourth quarter, when he picked up his fifth foul, he begged his coach Dwane Casey to keep him in the game with more than seven minutes remaining. Casey did not listen to him, and DeRozan spent the next timeout sitting by himself on the bench.
'It wasn't necessarily not being able to join my teammates,' DeRozan said after his team escaped with a necessary, if unconvincing, 100-95 win over the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday. It tied their first-round series 1-1. 'It was just my competitive spirit. I was frustrated. I just calmed myself down. I was a little frustrated I couldn't be out there with my team. I was just keeping myself together, not being so frustrated.'
Despite his 30 points, including 17 in the fourth quarter, DeRozan was not undeniable in a response to his awful Game 1. Neither were the Raptors. This was a game won through hard play, a scrambling mentality and a little luck.
DeRozan bounced from awful in the third quarter to unstoppable in the next frame. First, a silky jumper over Joe Johnson, who had dominated him a quarter earlier. Then, a beautiful turnaround jumper as he leaped toward to the middle of the floor. Those four points broke a late tie for good. DeRozan called the feeling of drilling those shots in a playoff game dream-like.
Still, the Raptors very easily could have lost. Paul Pierce, who had four massive field goals in the fourth quarter in Game 1, had a wide-open three-pointer to give the Nets the lead with 24 seconds remaining. It rimmed out.
'Ha! I think we all got scared,' reserve guard Greivis Vasquez said when he was asked for his internal monologue while that shot was in the air. 'We were all like, 'No. ... Thank God he missed that. He's an unbelievable player. We don't want him to take those shots. Even though he can be sleeping all game, at any given point, in the last five minutes of the game, [he can make a shot]. You cannot let him catch the ball.'
That has been the Raptors early on, though: They have made a series of mistakes, despite unending energy and desire. A game after turning the ball over 19 times, the Raptors turned it over 21 more times on Tuesday. The offence remains inconsistent, with the pick-and-roll working only in fits and starts. The Raptors dominated on the glass, hauling in 52 rebounds compared to Brooklyn's 30. Yet, the second-chance points were even.
You could pick it apart to death, and the coaches will do that on Wednesday and Thursday, heading into Friday's game in Brooklyn. The Raptors have the effort thing down, though. After a shaky Game 1, the execution took a slight step forward. The progress might be incremental, but it is meaningful.
'I don't think there was any doubt. I think the lights were really bright for some of the guys, and some of us and our team,' point guard Kyle Lowry said. 'We're young. I think the lights were really bright for us. As the second game came, the lights dimmed a little bit.
'I don't think we've played our best. We've turned the ball over lot. I still think we have room to improve. I'm sure they think they have room to improve.'
They are still looking for anything approaching their best performance, but they are swinging with the Nets. It is a start. And as always, some perspective: This season started with the lowest of expectations. Now, DeRozan has his first playoff win.
'People used to think coming to Toronto was a win,' DeRozan said. 'We've been through that. Now we want people to know playing the Raptors is a fight.'
Through two games, the Raptors have not shown any grace. However, they are scrapping, even when their shoulders are slumped.
Post By http://sports.nationalpost.com/2014/04/22/toronto-raptors-show-some-fight-in-beating-brooklyn-nets/
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