DeMar DeRozan did not hesitate to take the blame squarely on his shoulders after an 0-for-8 performance from the field in Game 3 of the Toronto Raptors‘ best-of-seven series against the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday.
The All-Star shooting guard struggled mightily against a lengthy Bucks defense that kept him off balance all game long.
“There's another side of me that's going to come out for having a game like that, feeling like I let my team down,” DeRozan told reporters Friday.
The Raptors had, by far, their worst outing of the season, shooting only 33.8 percent for the game, thanks to their often-explosive backcourt combining for only 21 points.
Head coach Dwane Casey wouldn't allow his star wing to take all of the burden, insisting that the blame goes around the whole team, from the players to the coaching staff.
“It's all of us,” Casey told reporters. “We didn't coach a good game, we didn't play a good game. So it's all of us together. We're all in it.”
DeRozan has done most of his damage from inside the paint, going a total of 5-of-23 in any other spot on the floor, including 0-for-4 from deep. His usual mid-range mastery has been nowhere to be found this series after being defended by two perimeter ballhawks in Khris Middleton and Tony Snell.
DeMar DeRozan's postseason shot chart is not very pretty. pic.twitter.com/X5IDZBTtZT
— Kelly Scaletta (@KellyScaletta) April 21, 2017
If his words are anything to watch out for, it wouldn't surprise for him to have a 40-point type of night where he's going to the line frequently, spot from which he's been a deadly 26-of-28 during the series.
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