"DeMar DeRozan is proof that even a winless road trip can reap some benefits.

DeRozan, mired in a funk going into the Raptors trip, was one of the few who returned on better ground than he left.

And once home, DeRozan took things to another level going off for 19 points in Wednesday's win over the Atlanta Hawks.

The easy explanation is that DeRozan is back to driving to the basket like he was when he was most effective earlier in the season. When he drives, he opens up the offence for everyone, gets to the free-throw line and scores. It's a win-win-win scenario and with his athleticism, defences have a hard time dealing with him.

And while that isn't the whole explanation for DeRozan's resurgence, it's a chunk of it.

The other part is DeRozan is now earning minutes based on his defence. That's a very big thing for the Raptors given he is almost invariably the Raptor who sets the defensive tone for a night because almost without fail, he's matched up against the opposing team's most dangerous scorer.

"If you let a guy like Kevin Durant making his first five shots, it's going to be difficult for Sonny (Weems) and I to come in and put that fire out," Antoine Wright says of DeRozan's tone-setting. "You have to pass the baton. You have to go out and make him go 2-for-5 and then I'll come in and make him 4-for-12. It's the way you pass the baton and keep a guy from going off for big points in one quarter."

Friday night will be no different as DeRozan will be getting a steady dose of Durant and while it would be an insult to the likes of Jeff Green and Russell Westbrook to suggest that stopping Durant stops the Thunder, even those gifted players would be hard-pressed to argue that as goes Durant, so go the Thunder."