DeMar DeRozan isn’t usually one to lose his cool. His reserved, modest demeanor falls in line with a steady, unflappable game that is uniquely his own. So, it probably came as a surprise recently, when Indiana Pacers’ antagonist-in-chief Lance Stephenson made a late-second layup during a rare blowout loss for the Toronto Raptors, and DeRozan reminded everyone that beneath that calm exterior, there’s still a kid who is straight outta Compton.

DeRozan sprinted down the court to approach Stephenson, shoved him twice and shouted a stream of unrepeatables into his ear. Raptors newcomer P.J. Tucker joined DeRozan to harass Stephenson until tempers eventually tapered. Tucker, who has known DeRozan since long before returning to his original NBA team at the trade deadline, later explained that DeRozan playing the role of angry, unwritten-rule-enforcer wasn’t all that usual for a low-key player who generally keeps his passions restrained.

“He’s got that side, but people don’t see it because he’s kind of quiet,” Tucker recently told The Vertical. “That’s just having each other’s back, riding together, no matter what, good or bad, just sticking together as a team.”

With the trade-deadline additions of Tucker and Serge Ibaka, the Raptors have a bit more edge as they enter the postseason for the fourth year in a row. Tucker, a 6-foot-5 brick, always appears ready to scrap, and Ibaka, battle-tested from deep playoff runs with the Oklahoma City Thunder, has already served a one-game suspension for taking a vicious swing at Chicago’s Robin Lopez. But if this is finally the year that Toronto – or any other Eastern Conference team – is able to end LeBron James’ six-year conference reign, the team will need to see another side of DeRozan and his All-Star backcourt mate, Kyle Lowry: that of prime-time playoff performers.

Though they won’t downplay what they’ve accomplished this season – completing consecutive 50-win seasons for the first time in franchise history and claiming the third seed in the East despite Lowry missing 21 games with a broken right wrist – the Raptors know that they are no longer judged by regular-season results. “Another 50-win season? The Spurs get 60 all the time. They don’t care, they want another ring,” Lowry told The Vertical. “I’m never satisfied with nothing, until I get a ring. I still won’t be satisfied. And I want to get as many as I can possibly get. That’s what the best ones do. They never settle. They want to continue to get better. They’re never satisfied. They’re never content. And that’s how I feel I am.”

After reaching the conference finals last season, Toronto, at least, wants a return. But that would require defeating upstart Milwaukee and possibly the defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers in the second round – a place where James’ season has ended only three times in 11 playoff appearances, none since 2010.

The postseason hasn’t brought out the best in DeRozan and Lowry, who succumbed to some Paul Pierce trolling in a seven-game, first-round loss to Brooklyn in 2014 and a first-round sweep to Washington in 2015. They were also off target for the first two rounds in a seven-game series against Indiana and Miami last season. Those experiences have the duo better prepared for what to expect. And, DeRozan believes those past failings contributed to him responding to signing the third-largest contract in NBA history with the greatest season of his eight-year career.

DeMar DeRozan has had the best regular season of his career. (AP) More

“You’ve got to go through things, adversity, to understand what it takes to be better,” DeRozan told The Vertical. “I never cried about a struggle because you can always learn a valuable lesson through a struggle and that could build you and make you stronger for the next go-round. That’s how I always look at things.”

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