DeMar DeRozan Says Raptors Need to Be 'Some Assh--es' vs. Cavaliers

Toronto Raptors star DeMar DeRozan said Wednesday that he and his teammates need to be "some assh--es" as they look to recover from a Game 1 loss against the Cleveland Cavaliers in their Eastern Conference Semifinals series, per Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun:

The Raptors lost Game 1, 113-112 in overtime, though Toronto had the last shot with a chance to win. Fred VanVleet was unable to hit a three-point attempt, however, allowing the Cavaliers to wrestle away home-court advantage in the series.

As for VanVleet getting the final look rather than one of the team's two stars, DeRozan and Kyle Lowry, DeRozan wasn't worried about the final play.

"I'll live with him shooting that shot 10 times out of 10," DeRozan told reporters. "I told him, if we're in the same situation again, I'll make the same exact pass. ... He's got tough skin. He's going to bounce back."

He wasn't fine with the team's inability to consistently hit shots down the stretch, however.

"For sure—without a doubt," he said when asked if the Raptors let one slip away. "We had many opportunities to close this game out. We couldn't buy a bucket, we got some great looks. We had a lot of shots point blank at the rim that were in and out."

Indeed, the Raptors went ice cold down the stretch, as ESPN Stats & Info showed: 

Their offensive rating also nosedived, per Ben Golliver of SI.com: 

Is it a trend? Perhaps just a cold spell? Maybe it was nerves, or perhaps ghosts of the past descended upon Air Canada Centre, as the Cavaliers have now won seven straight postseason games against the Raptors and knocked them out of the playoffs in two straight seasons.

"I don't know if it was nerves or yips or what," Raptors coach Dwane Casey said, per the Associated Press (h/t ESPN). "Just things that shot ourselves in the foot when we had a 10-point lead."

Game 1 was particularly demoralizing because LeBron James and Kevin Love combined to shoot just 15-of-43 from the field. While James still managed to score 26 points, it was hardly a vintage performance. 

"Shots weren't going in for me," James acknowledged, per Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com. "It was probably one of my worst games of the season."

If the Raptors can't close out games when James is at his worst, they'll be in trouble when he's making shots like he did all season. As DeRozan noted, the Raptors will need to be able to grind out wins in the clutch if they're to finally get over the Cleveland hump.