Lowry, DeRozan have been waiting a year to make up for last season’s heartbreak

TORONTO – The pain was less than 24 hours old, and Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan were already plotting.

It was this time last year and Toronto had just been dispatched from the playoffs in the most humiliating fashion, swept in four games by the Washington Wizards, and the two Raptors all-stars had a heart-to-heart. They vowed to do better. They made promises about what they’d do to improve.

Twelve months later, the wait’s finally over. The Raptors host the Indiana Pacers in Game 1 of their opening-round playoff series on Saturday, and Lowry and DeRozan are itching to get on the floor and rewrite their post-season story.

“It’s tough,” DeRozan said. “I think it’s tough to really sit back and understand that last time in the playoffs we got swept, we went out the way we did. It really ate away at me all summer.”

The Raptors roll into the playoffs having won a franchise-best 56 games, and securing a best-ever No. 2 seed in the East.

They’d set records last season as well, but by the time the playoffs arrived, the air was quickly seeping out of the team’s tires. They’d lost any sense of rhythm, and the players knew it.

“We was trash,” Lowry said, with a matter-of-fact face. “We knew we were playing like trash. You’ve got to be real with yourself sometimes. Y’all were watching. We just weren’t firing as a team on the same cylinders.”

Then came the heart-to-heart. The most remarkable transformation came from Lowry, who showed up in the fall leaner than he’d been in years.

“We learned a lot from last year, and the day after that series, me and Kyle talked probably every single day, how we were going to change our game, how we were going to get better. I think I was the only person who knew that he was going to lose weight,” DeRozan said. “And when you take that type of approach, you understand that the next go-around is going to be different. We were definitely locked in the next day, for him to be quicker on his feet, lighter on his feet, healthy.”

Lowry struggled mightily against the Wizards, sitting out huge chunks of the first two games in foul trouble. He was banged up, with both a sore back and strained calf muscles.

The point guard has been solid all this season, and the only health concerns was a swollen elbow in recent weeks.

And the mood around the two has been overwhelmingly positive, the post-game locker-room like Comedy Central. Friday’s meeting with the media was no different. As DeRozan took his turn to talk in the media room, he was interrupted by a loud hiss from the hallway.

“PSSSSSSTTTTTT!!”

DeRozan shot a glare toward Lowry, who was lurking mischievously in the hallway, and barked: “I’m not going to talk until you leave.”

“You can just see, his confidence level, his comfort level, that says a lot to where you carry yourself,” DeRozan said seriously of his comedic partner and Raptors co-captain. “This time last year there weren’t too many smiles and jokes. . . guys are really locked in, and at the same time, we’re really enjoying the moment.”

There was no joking though when Lowry was asked what it would mean to take a team to heights he’s never experienced in an up and down career.

He turned thoughtful and said “It would mean a lot.

“Throughout my career, after you get to a certain point, they don’t say you’re young anymore. It’s how many games you win, and what you do in this league as of winning. It’s important to me. To lead a team that’s given me the opportunity to do the things I’ve done, given me kind of the keys to lead the team. . . for me it’s just about putting my all and my effort into it. Every game and every play.”

DeRozan and Lowry head into the playoffs amid career years. DeRozan averaged a career-high 23.5 points a night during the regular season, with career highs in both three-point percentage (33.8) and free throw percentage (85). Lowry’s regular season was similarly strong, with career highs in points (21.2) and three-point shooting (38.8), while playing a career-high 37 minutes a night.