DeMar DeRozan: 'I'm there shooting free throws like Shaq'

Toronto Raptors shooting guard DeMar DeRozan stuffed the stat sheet in Wednesday's season opener against the visiting Indiana Pacers, but he wasn't entirely happy with his performance.

DeRozan finished with 25 points, five rebounds, six assists, and came up huge in crunch time, but it was his 10-of-16 free-throw shooting that had him burning in the postgame scrum.

"I'm out there shooting free throws like Shaq, so I have to get better at that," DeRozan said.

The 26-year-old makes a living at the charity stripe, shooting 81.7 percent for his career. However, DeRozan opened Wednesday's game hitting just 2-of-6 from the line, while missing all four of his field-goal attempts in an uncharacteristic first quarter.

His shooting normalized, however, once the game got going. Instead of attacking through the pick-and-roll as he did in the first quarter, DeRozan went into the post and dominated the Pacers' smaller defenders in George Hill and Monta Ellis.

DeRozan notched 23 points on 7-of-13 shooting while canning 8-of-10 free-throw attempts in the last three quarters. He did some damage inside the paint before finding the range on his jumpshot.

Most importantly, DeRozan dropped a dagger into the Pacers' hearts with an insanely difficult jumper to push the Raptors' lead to three with 52 seconds remaining.

Taking the big shots is something the former All-Star and his teammates are comfortable with, even when he's struggling.

"I could miss 100 in a row, but if it comes down to the last shot, all the guys trust me to take it and I'm still confident like I made 100 in a row taking that last shot," DeRozan said.