The NBA playoffs are still a few days away. What’s already the greatest regular season in Raptors history won’t wrap up until Wednesday night in Miami.
But we already know this to be true: If the Raptors are going to take an unprecedented post-season step in the coming weeks — if they’re to parlay this high-point regular season into the franchise’s first trip to the NBA final — they’re going to need to translate the essence of their transformed playing style into something that will work in the playoffs.
Which is why, even as the Raptors played out a string of relatively meaningless regular-season games this week — including Monday night’s game in Detroit — you could observe the usual palpable edginess in Dwane Casey’s demeanour.