Knowing what 0-1 hole feels like, Raptors expect desperate Wizards in Game 2
TORONTO -- The Toronto Raptors have made a habit of backing themselves into a corner with a Game 1 loss, only to respond with a bounce-back performance in Game 2, so head coach Dwane Casey and his players know how hungry the Washington Wizards will be Tuesday night as they try to claw back into the series after Toronto took Saturday's opener.
"We've got to remember how we felt after our history of Game 1s," Casey told reporters Tuesday morning in Toronto.
"We seem to forget our Game 2s weren’t that bad. It's a seven-game series and we've got to know they’re going to come out in a desperate mode. They've been here for a few days, listening to everybody build us up and all that stuff and we can’t fall for it. We've got to come out with the same mentality of toughness, physicality and be ready for a confrontation."
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The Raptors entered Saturday's contest having never won a postseason opener in franchise history, and having lost 10 straight Game 1s dating back to 2002. With a victory Tuesday night, they would take a two-game series lead for the first time ever.
"We've got to come out and play just as desperate," DeMar DeRozan said of matching Washington's urgency. "We can't wait until they hit us. We have to come out and throw the first punch."
If the Wizards are desperate, however, they did a good job of hiding it at Tuesday's shootaround, selling themselves as calm and collected just hours ahead of Game 2.
"I don't feel like there's desperation, or sense of urgency, or anything," John Wall said as he cooly sipped from a juice box, wearing sweats and sunglasses while relaxing in a courtside seat at Air Canada Centre.
"We've just got to come out more focused on the defensive end. That's the key. We was up 2-0 last year in our (first-round) series, then went to Atlanta and (the Hawks) won two, so we're not looking that far ahead. We're just looking at Game 2. We have an opportunity to get a win and go home 1-1. We wanted to come get two, but we have an opportunity to get Game 2."
The top-seeded Raptors finished 16 games ahead of the eighth-seeded Wizards, but the teams split their regular-season series despite Wall missing all four contests.
"Seed is nothing but a number at the end of the day," Bradley Beal said Tuesday. "It doesn't determine how good you are. We feel we're a lot better than our record shows. We accept it, and we're playing a tough team - the No. 1 team in the East right now - but we don't view it as a numbers game."