Toronto Raptors Face Franchise-Defining Moment

In just one game, the Toronto Raptors lost the home-court advantage they worked all season to obtain. What follows could factor heavily into the future of the franchise.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. The Toronto Raptors were supposed to be different this year; with a much better defense and a deeper bench this was the season the Raptors were supposed to establish themselves as more than just a regular-season flash in the pan.

While the first-round series between the Raptors and the seventh-seeded Indiana Pacers is still far from over, the team that wins Game 1 of a seven-game series does go on to win 77 percent of the time. But even if the Raptors do come back to win, how they lost Game 1 and the bad habits that returned would leave anybody that’s followed this team the last three years feeling uneasy.

Star players need to carry you in the playoffs. It seems obvious, but when you enter a playoff series against a team they have plenty of time to game plan and scheme to take away what you do best. When everything breaks down, you need that player that can get you a tough basket or take the pressure off of the role players so that they are not asked to do more than they are comfortable with.

Both DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry failed at this in Game 1. They were hesitant when they needed to be aggressive and pressed when they needed to give up the ball. Both players have a reputation for being able to attack the basket and put pressure on the defense, but they would routinely pull up in the middle to the key and look to pass it off or take a tough shot out of rhythm.

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For Lowry, his playoff woes are becoming a concerning trend. This is his fourth career appearance in the postseason and he is shooting 35.5 percent from the floor and 30.3 percent from behind the arc. DeRozan hasn’t been much better in his playoff appearances, shooting 38 percent from the floor and 31 percent from deep.

If they can’t find a way to score efficiently when the game slows down and team’s have time to prepare for them, Toronto may need to evaluate whether or not these are truly the players they want as the cornerstone of the franchise, especially when Lowry is 30 years old and DeRozan is in line for a max contract in free agency this summer.

It isn’t all negative with this team; Game 1 may just be the demons from the past rearing their ugly head and they can just move on from it. Jonas Valanciunas was dominant, gathering a double-double in the first quarter of the game and finishing with 12 points and 19 rebounds in just 21 minutes before fouling out.

Playoff veteran Cory Joseph also had a strong performance, scoring 18 points on six shots. But the inability of the team to get its stars going hovered over the game and ultimately doomed them.

To some extent the coaching staff needs to be better. Whether it be backdoor cuts, increased pick-and-roll opportunities or something else, they need to find ways to get Lowry and DeRozan easy baskets to help build their confidence.

But at the same time it’s on the players to be assertive, to understand the importance of the moment and make the right decisions with the touches that they do receive.

It’s not just about Game 2; the Toronto Raptors have given the Indiana Pacers confidence and home-court advantage. They smell blood in the water and they aren’t going away without a fight. This is the ultimate test for this collection of players–will they validate the criticisms that have followed the team ever since it was first assembled?

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Or will they show something we haven’t seen from them to this point … mental toughness.