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TSN Raptors Reporter

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TORONTO - Norman Powell was all set to speak to the media following practice on Monday afternoon when DeMar DeRozan playfully tossed his young teammate out of the way so he could get his scrum over with first.

"It is what it is," the 23-year-old Powell said with a smile shortly after getting bumped. "I’m still young, so I still get the treatment a lot, even though I’m not a rookie anymore. Still gotta do what the vet says. I mean, when you’re DeMar and you’re the franchise player, you get away with a lot of things."

Just about everything is coming easy for DeRozan right now.

The NBA's leading scorer spoke for about seven minutes, fielding questions that ranged from this week's daunting back-to-back with the Cavaliers and Warriors to scrimmaging against Powell in practice (spoiler: it doesn't tend to go well for the sophomore). Eventually, he was asked about his comfort level late in games.

DeRozan, 27, has been the Raptors' top crunch-time scoring option for the bulk of his professional career. He's accustomed to having the ball in his hands with the fate of his team hanging in the balance. Those possessions used to be an adventure, not to mention a cause of anxiety for Toronto's fan base. He would over-dribble, get himself into trouble and often force up tough, uncomfortable looking jumpers, occasionally losing the ball and failing to get a shot off altogether.

Now, as DeRozan's historic run continues into the third week of the season, those days seem like a distant memory. His brilliance hasn't been limited to the last few minutes of games but that's when it's the most noticeable. He's not just putting up big numbers, he's doing it at the most opportune time.

What's been the biggest difference for him in those late-game moments?

"Ummm," he pondered. "I'm trying to think of a great metaphor or analogy. I'm always good with the metaphors. I'm trying to give you a good one though..."

He paused and looked up at the ceiling, long enough to believe he may actually be in over his head on this one. Stick to basketball and leave the analogies to... never mind, his eyes lit up as he continued.

"I think it's like being in your house in the dark," the all-star guard said. "You turn the lights off and you still know where you've got to go. You know where the dining [room] table is, the chair, you know where the stairs are at, all of that. I think at this point that's what it feels like to me late in the game. I'm just used to it. I'm comfortable with it. And if I step on a toy or something I know I didn't put it there."

The biggest factor in DeRozan's continued growth is also the simplest: time. With seven full seasons of NBA experience under his belt, and the confidence that goes along with it, the 27-year-old is seeing the game at a different speed.

"The game has slowed down," said Dwane Casey, who has coached DeRozan since his third season. "He doesn’t get rattled. At that time of the game teams tend to get more physical and grab and hold and bump and he just brushes it off now. That’s the difference I see in DeMar now. He is mature. He’s a man now as opposed to a kid getting beat up in those situations and the officials respect him now, whereas three or four years ago they probably would let the veterans get away with a lot of stuff."

DeRozan has made big plays in every close game the Raptors have been in so far this season. In Friday's win over Charlotte, after coughing up a 16-point lead and falling behind by double digits, he scored 10 of his 34 points in the fourth quarter, including a turnaround 20-foot jumper to ice it with 30 seconds left.

The next night, his unconventional four-point play broke a late-game tie and it was his layup that put the Knicks away in the final minute.

In clutch situations this season (the score within five points or less in the final five minutes of the game), DeRozan has totalled 27 points in 29 minutes (0.93 points per), shooting 12-for-23 from the field (52 per cent), albeit in a small sample size. The Raptors are 5-2 in those games. Last year, he shot 39 per cent and scored 0.86 points per minute in those situations. Over his career, he's scored 0.59 points per minute on 37 per cent shooting in crunch time.

DeRozan says he's not doing anything drastically different. He still hasn't taken a three-pointer in those 29 crunch-time minutes. His shots are coming from the same spots on the floor, although he seems to be having an easier time getting to those spots. He's been more decisive, both with and without the ball, and is less concerned about what the defence is doing to disrupt him.

"I really don’t pay no mind to it if it’s an open shot or there’s a guy in my face," said DeRozan, who is averaging a league-best 34.0 points per game. "Norm actually asked me one day, how do I make so many tough shots and I tell him, honestly, I don’t think about a hand in my face or somebody contesting me because I feel like that’s what a defender’s supposed to do. My job is to try to make the shot no matter what. That’s my mindset."

Fifty-three per cent of DeRozan's shots have come with a defender within two to four feet, the third highest mark on the NBA, but he's hitting a remarkable 59 per cent of those looks. More often than not, guarding DeRozan is an impossible task, something Powell - one of the Raptors' toughest and most physical perimeter defenders - can attest to first hand.

"It definitely doesn’t matter," said Powell. "I’ve asked him that many times, how he’s making so many tough, contested shots. It doesn’t matter if you have a hand in his face, he’s shooting his shot. You’re not adjusting his shot. So if you block it, you block it. But he knows his angles on his fadeaways and stuff like that. He’s always making his shot more difficult than it has to be. He’s been a master at that, he’s perfected that."

DeRozan is staring down history. The reigning Eastern Conference Player of the Week is one of just four players to score 30 or more points in eight of his team's first nine games over the last 50 years, joining Michael Jordan, World B. Free and Nate Archibald. If he reaches that plateau in Cleveland on Tuesday he'll become the first player to ever do it in nine of 10 games to begin a season.

As a student of the game, DeRozan is left speechless whenever one of these stats is brought to his attention. Sure, the 'it's early in the season' caveat still applies, but the red-hot Raptor doesn't appear to be cooling down anytime soon. Is his torrid start sustainable? Maybe, maybe not. However, the 27-year-old is just entering his prime and he says the game has never moved slower for him.

"It’s like Neo in the Matrix," said DeRozan. "Like I said, I watch so much film. I study so much – every angle, every defensive coverage, every opponent. Even nights before games understanding if there’s going to be a big guy or a smaller guy on me. Just really getting mentally prepared that way just sets it all up differently when I go out there and play.”