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TORONTO — The Toronto Raptors have spent a season creating franchise history Authentic Joseph Noteboom Jersey , including a team-record 59 wins, in finishing first in the Eastern Conference for the first time.

They will be trying to overcome some of their history Saturday as they open their first-round playoff series with the Washington Wizards at the Air Canada Centre.

The Raptors are 1-12 all-time in the first game of a playoff series. Their only Game 1 victory came May 6, 2001, in in the Eastern Conference semi-finals at Philadelphia.

This will be the eighth time the Raptors have homecourt advantage to start a playoff series.

Raptors guard DeMar DeRozan is aware of that, but also said his team has been particularly good at home this season. At 34-7 at the ACC this season, the Raptors tied the Houston Rockets with the best home record in the league.

“We’ve been great at home all year,” DeRozan said. “It’s definitely something we took more pride in than ever and I think it showed. With that, we’ve got that confidence this time around more than ever. Like I said, it’s one of those moments to where we feel like when we are on our home floor, anything’s possible, and our swag is at an all-time high.”

The Wizards (43-39) and the Raptors (59-23) split four games this season, but Washington guard John Wall missed all four meetings between the teams because of knee surgery.

In three regular-season games against the Raptors in 2016-17, Wall averaged 25 points Panthers Elite Jerseys , 10.3 assists and 5.7 rebounds.

“We haven’t played with John against them,” said Wizards guard Tomas Satoransky. “We’re not scared. We respect them. There’s some positive aspects from this season.”

“We’ve got John back,” Wizards guard Bradley Beal said. “There’s no excuse for us not to go out there and get the job done.”

“They’re a good team,” Raptors center Jonas Valanciunas said. “We’re not underestimating them, and we know it’s going to be hard playing against them. We know they are tough, physical playing team. We’re ready, we know how we’re going to play and we’re going to play well, play hard.”

The Wizards lost five of six games to end the regular season, including their finale against the Orlando Magic on Wednesday. Although they struggled all season with under .500 teams, like the Magic, they defeated nine playoff-bound teams after the All-Star break.

“I’m more than excited,” Beal said. “This is where players are made and everybody’s trying to fight for the same goal. It’s always fun and it gets very interesting this time of the year.”

Wizards center Jason Smith suggested it might be better to face Toronto in the first round than the Philadelphia 76ers, who ended the regular season on a 16-game winning streak.

“We are looking forward to the matchup with Toronto Authentic Clay Matthews Jersey ,” Smith said. “I, personally, am a little relieved to not have to go against the hottest team in the league, Philly. That’s not a team we want to see. We don’t match up well with them. We might have split the season series, but they are the hottest team right now and they don’t have Joel Embiid and that’s a little scary.”

The Wizards swept the Raptors in four straight games in the playoffs in 2015.

“The guys that were here three years ago know what it was like to get swept,” DeRozan said. “It wasn’t a great feeling at all. You learn from your mistakes, you understand how to be better. To have another opportunity to compete with these guys again, it’s definitely going to be fun. It’s always one of those scrappy, competitive games, and it’s (the kind of) games you want to be part of. To have the opportunity against a great team in the Wizards, it should be fun.”

The Wizards finished eighth in the East, 16 games behind the Raptors.

“Just because they’re an eighth seed, we are not going to look at them like they’re an eighth seed Youth Mark Walton Jersey , because we understand what this team is capable of,” DeRozan said. “That’s a great challenge, and for us, it’s a challenge that we are definitely looking forward to.”

Toronto has had one of the better benches in the NBA this season, but one of the keys to the reserves, guard Fred VanVleet, injured his shoulder in the loss to the Miami Heat Wednesday and likely will be a game-time decision.

Raptors guard Lorenzo Brown, who was on a two-way contract, has been signed to a standard NBA contract and is eligible to play in the playoffs.

Wizards forwards Otto Porter Jr. (mild calf strain) and Mike Scott (concussion protocol) are questionable for Game 1.

Wizards guard Jodie Meeks is out for the playoffs despite indications that he will appeal a 25-game suspension for violating the league anti-drug program.

Free-agent guard Ty Lawson has been signed by the Wizards and will be eligible for the postseason.

Long before Colin Kaepernick's protest during the national anthem became one of the biggest issues in the NFL, Oakland Raiders tight end Jared Cook was one of a handful of St. Louis players who took part in their own on-field display against police brutality and racial injustice.

Cook was one of five players on the Rams in 2014 who mimicked the "Hands up, don't shoot" symbol during pregame introductions in support of protesters in Ferguson, Missouri, after a grand jury declined to indict a police officer in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man Womens Antonio Brown Jersey , Michael Brown.

While Cook has not been a regular part of protests during the national anthem since Kaepernick first started it in 2016, he supports the cause and disagrees with the NFL's announcement last week that players would be required to stand during the national anthem.

"We're here for a bigger platform," he said Tuesday. "We're not just athletes. We're people that live this. It's people in our neighborhood, it's people that we grew up with, it's people that we know who are actually living through these circumstances. So when we speak on it, it's not like we're just speaking out of the side of our neck. It's things that actually touch home and things that we can actually relate to. All I have to say is, I just think it's sad that it's veered from something that stood for good and the whole narrative has changed into something that's negative when that was not what it was initially about in the first place."

Kaepernick stoked the debate over the anthem when he began protesting police brutality and racial injustice in 2016 by refusing to stand during the playing of "The Star-Spangled Banner" before games.

Several players followed suit that year but the issue really moved to the forefront in 2017 when President Donald Trump brought it up at a campaign rally, saying NFL owners should fire any player who refused to stand during the anthem.

More than 200 players protested during the anthem that weekend before the number of protesters dwindled as the season progressed. But the league tried to settle the issue last week by mandating that players must either stand respectfully for the anthem or remain in the locker room. Teams will be subject to fines if players don't comply and will have the option of punishing players.

While other leagues like the NBA already mandate that players stand for the anthem, Cook said there could have been better consultation with the union on this issue and a way to give players an avenue to express their views on these issues.

"You look at a league like the NBA," he said. "I think the NBA always handles its social issues pretty well. It always handles its players really well and with utmost respect for the players. I think there could have been a bigger and a better way to fix the situation."

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