TORONTO — DeMarre Carroll signed with the Raptors a couple of years ago from an Atlanta team that, along with the San Antonio Spurs, had helped revolutionize the game and paved the way for the Golden State and Cleveland championship teams.

Those Hawks moved the ball spectacularly well, finishing second in the NBA in assists per game four consecutive years through 2015-16, two of them with Carroll. The Raptors have been in the bottom-10 for five straight seasons, including 29th and dead-last, most recently.

When Carroll arrived in Canada, he knew he was going to a different type of squad, one built on a pair of isolation scorers. But he never stopped trying to bridge the gap, knowing no matter how talented Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan are as point producers, the game gets easier the more you pass the ball in search of higher percentage shots.

Carroll’s vision has finally been realized over the past two games.

The 28 assists by the Raptors in Game 5 were the fifth-most in any Raptors playoff game over the years. The 24 in the previous outing were tied for eighth-highest and both topped what any Raptors playoff squad had posted since 2008.

Not surprisingly, the Raptors took control of the series by breaking down a Milwaukee defence that had previously smothered what had been a very effective regular season group.

In the opening months of Carroll’s time in Toronto, he told us he had been hoping to lead by example, based on his past experiences.

“There are plenty of shots that I could shoot but I pass up and there’s plenty of times that I shoot shots that I should pass up so I’ve got to stay true to who I am and be an unselfish guy. Hopefully I can lead by example and guys can tag along,” Carroll had said back then.

Veteran Luis Scola would later say similar things.

Back then, Carroll labelled the team’s ball movement as “average at best,” adding, “I don’t think it’s nothing to be too happy about … I feel like every time down the court, if you move the ball good enough, somebody should get an open shot. We’re getting there, I think people are learning,” he said.

“Coming from Atlanta, where you’ve seen like 85-90% of our possessions is wide open shots. So I think we’re doing better than (the Raptors) did (the year prior), from watching their games from last year. It’s a work in progress, we’re not going to get better overnight so we’ve just got to keep trying to get better and keep trying to build a culture here as an unselfish team.”

The Raptors never reached that point in 2015-16. That team ranked near the bottom in both the regular and post-seasons in assists per game, assist percentage, assist to turnover ratio, true shooting and effective field goal percentage. Once again, one of the most efficient regular season offences turned into one of the least effective, a common trend.

Hence the desire of many to see the ball moving both quicker and more frequently.

Lo and behold, these Raptors might finally have gotten the message.

DeRozan has never played smarter in the playoffs over the past two games. He’s made the right reads, set the right example and engineered better shots for both himself and for his teammates.

Only three teams have assisted on more of their buckets than the Raptors have vs. the Bucks.

Carrroll’s loving it.

“I felt like the ball was moving crazy,” Carroll said earlier this week.

“Everything was in rhythm. Swing, swing, you know you’re gonna get the shot rather than jump up in the air and throw a last-second shot to somebody and they gotta throw it up,” he said.

“It was more swing, swing, get off the ball, double-team, a lot of movement, and that’s how we gotta play. I always learned growing up that the ball moved way faster than your dribbling. So that’s how we gotta play. We can’t convert back to that pound, pound the ball. We gotta kinda move it around.”

Can they keep it up? We’ve never seen it consistently in the past, but maybe, just maybe something has clicked.

rwolstat@postmedia.com

PASSIN' RAPS

No team assisted on fewer of its shots this regular season than the Raptors. Through Tuesday’s games, only three playoff squads had assisted on a higher number than Toronto. Where the Raptors have ranked as passers over the past several seasons:

Year: Assists per game / Assist percentage