Long winning streak makes for a happy Raptors room; James Johnson matures; Lowry/DeRozan know when to step up Spoelstra says

It’s funny what a lot of winning does. The Raptors locker room was a joyous place following Friday’s victory over Miami. And why not? It’s only the third time the franchise has won seven in a row and the fun might stop on Sunday against a strong Los Angeles Clippers club that is still missing Blake Griffin, but might have helped team chemistry by dumping Josh Smith.
Most of the players have never been on this kind of a run, though Luis Scola was on the Houston team that won 22 straight, the fourth-best run ever, and Cory Joseph and DeMarre Carroll were on 19-gamers. The Raptors are a long way from that, but seven works.
Everyone was in great moods. Jonas Valanciunas might have shot just 2-for-7, kicking himself several times after easy misses, following a 9-for-9 performance on Wednesday, but he was still a game-best +18, blocked three shots, dominated the boards (13 rebounds) and handed out three assists.
He’s blocking two shots a game in January and handing out 1.7 assists, both, the best monthly averages of his career save 2.4 blocks in seven April games as a rookie. The eye test shows that Valanciunas is playing as well as ever, despite his injury layoff, and the numbers do as well.
Valanciunas did a bit of Borat (nothing offensive) and it’s too bad once the cameras come on he isn’t himself, because he’s a funny, thoughtful guy who has been advised by someone to be a robot (he was a lot different on the record as a rookie). Personality is good.
For those who have never ventured into NBA rooms, body cream is a big deal. Kobe Bryant has come through with $1,000+ jars of the stuff and everyone always seems to run out and starts bartering others for some. Someone asked Lowry for some of his “all-star lotion,” and when Lowry obliged, another player told the recipient, “now you’re an all-star too.”
THREE-POINT CRAZY
It was the fourth time DeMar DeRozan has hit four threes in a game (he hit five once) and all of the other times were either in 2012 or 2013. Colleague Mike Ganter will have much more on all of the threes later today.
James Johnson hit 2-of-4 from deep and has gone 5-for-9 over his past three games, after hitting only 6-of-22 the rest of the year.
His explanation of what’s going on and why he feels more confident with his shot now was pretty great. He said he filmed himself in the gym when shots were falling and he felt great and talked into the camera “like a mad scientist” about what was working and why it was working and now goes back and watches the tape all of the time to stay on track with his shooting.
He also took a very mature stance on his place in the Raptors’ pecking order once DeMarre Carroll returns to the starting role:
“I mean, yeah, we have our set rotation,” Johnson said.
“We have all year and I know where I land in that and it’s fine. It just gives me more time to work on my craft and develop me as a better basketball player for the team just in case.”
Johnson will be a free agent after this season.
TIMELY
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra has always been high on DeRozan and Lowry (remember the Heat tried hard to sign Lowry two summers ago) and a lot of it is because he thinks they are difference-makers.
“Well it’s both of them. It’s not the end line stat, it’s the timeliness of their plays,” Spoelstra said, likely thinking of the daggers both all-stars made on several occasions whenever Miami seemed to be ready to put a scare into the Raptors (including Lowry’s smart play right near the end when he drew a foul and hit a layup to end it).
“Those swing moments they were making the big plays. Those are the separating plays.”
Indeed.
AROUND THE RIM
Lowry got a standing ovation for his all-star nod after a video tribute and a pat from Valanciunas … Toronto is now 8-2 in January, has won 18 straight when holding opponents under 100 points
… Having just passed Damon Stoudamire for third on Toronto’s all-time assist list, Lowry is now about two-three games away from moving into second behind Jose Calderon. That will happen when he passes his good friend Alvin Williams, one of his mentors … One thing I don’t get: Why on earth do Raptors fans boo Amar’e Stoudemire? The weird spelling of his name, or do they think he’s Damon StoudAmire? … Bosh isn’t surprised he still gets booed. He joked afteward, “nobody likes me, (but) I think I’m a nice guy.” He also apparently said Friday morning, after being asked whether he thought the booing would stop this year, “Why, because I nearly died?” (last year when he had blood clots that ended his season early).