Dwane Casey would like the Toronto Raptors to ignore the noise, to play to their identity and their strengths regardless of what’s going on around them.

Noise?

How about a cacophonous racket of epic proportions?

What did you think of Game 1?

After once again dropping Game 1 of a playoff series at home — they have hit the trifecta over the last three springs — the Raptors will spend between now and Monday night being questioned about their post-season failings. It will be a pressure-inducing time.

Chill out, they maintain.

A 100-90 defeat at the hands of the Indiana Pacers at the Air Canada Centre on Saturday afternoon was a one-time blip.

“Naw, it’s nothing to be worried about, honestly,” guard DeMar DeRozan said. “We understand, we just had a bad game. We shot 38 per cent. We turned the ball over. We missed 12 free throws. Take that away, we’re right there.”

Added Kyle Lowry: “We’re good, man. It’s one game.”

One at-times gruesome offensive game where the Raptors — particularly backcourt mates DeRozan (5-for-19, 14 points) and Lowry (3-for-13, 11 points) — looked as bad as they have all season.

The Raptors didn’t get nearly as many open looks as they usually do, they lost a key advantage when Jonas Valanciunas was taken out of the game with foul trouble, and they couldn’t stop a second-half onslaught from Indiana’s Paul George. It was bad all over and cost them home-court advantage in the best-of-seven series.

“I know the percentages and numbers, all that bullcrap, but it’s a long series and I know our team,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. “Today we didn’t play to our identity, and I know we’ll come back and play more to our identity.”

That “identity” is a team that relies on two players — DeRozan and Lowry — to carry the offensive load and a supporting group that provides help from one player or another all the time.

When none of that is happening? Disaster.

Fan reaction to Raptors loss in Game 1

“We’re not panicking, we understand we just played bad,” DeRozan said. “We didn’t tell ourselves we were going to go out here and go 4-and-0. It’s not going to be that easy, we understand that it was going to be a challenge. We’ve just got to get Monday.”

The Raptors really did have themselves to blame; they missed shots much by their own accord, and when George got rolling in the second half there was little they could do.

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George scored 27 of his 33 points in the second half, flashing some of the style that made him an ascendant star before a gruesome leg injury robbed him of almost the entire 2014-15 season.

“He’s gonna score,” Luis Scola said of his former teammate. “We’ve got to find a way to win with him scoring (because) he’s gonna score.”

Having Valanciunas limited to 21 minutes because of foul trouble exacerbated Toronto’s offensive woes. The seven-footer had been dominating in the paint and on the glass but his absence allowed the Pacers to concentrate more on Lowry and DeRozan.

“We didn’t get to utilize him enough; and it allowed them to do some things. They were able to help on Kyle and DeMar off of (Bismack Biyombo),” Casey said. “Hopefully (Valanciunas) won’t get in foul trouble again — some of them were cheap fouls, wrestling matches. He’s got to show his hands and don’t even put yourself in that position to get the calls.”

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