Raptors by the numbers: Time for Lowry, DeRozan to get more rest

This may sound a bit odd, but it's time for the Raptors to ask for less from their All-Stars. Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan are both deservingly spending the All-Star break in Toronto as members of the Eastern Conference team that will take the court this coming Sunday.

They'll get a few days off after the festivities, but when the regular season does resume, they deserve a bit more of a break, too. A few minutes per game over the remainder of the regular season will do.

Lowry is fourth in the NBA in minutes per game, averaging 36.7 minutes. DeRozan is right behind him in sixth at 36.2 minutes. Since December 28 – a span of 19 games – Lowry is up to 38.6 minutes per game, and that's despite suffering a minor wrist injury two weeks ago. Dwane Casey recognizes the need to decrease their workload down the stretch, especially Lowry's, to ensure they're fresh for the playoffs.

From Casey's interview on Sportsnet 590 The Fan last Wednesday:

It's just easier said than done. Lowry played almost 40 minutes – leading all scorers with 30 points – in the Raptors' next game, a win over Portland on Thursday.

And what makes it even more difficult is that the Raptors have discovered a new lineup of late with Lowry leading the charge alongside Toronto's four primary reserves – Cory Joseph, Terrence Ross, Patrick Patterson, and Bismack Biyombo – that's become the team's go-to lineup to start the second and fourth quarters.

It's not just the Raptors' most effective unit. It's been one of the better combinations in all of the NBA, one of only four units to have outscored opponents by more than 100 points.

The start of the second and fourth quarters are typically when a team's top player rests. But considering the success Lowry and the four reserves have had together, it would be unwise to mess with it.

So that forces Casey to get more creative in resting Lowry, while striving to stay competitive. The ideal and most straightforward scenario is for Casey to trust Joseph and Ross, the natural replacements for Lowry and DeRozan, for longer periods of time with more responsibility. The early returns in those expanded roles may not be fruitful as the tried-and-true alternative of sticking with Lowry and DeRozan, but in the long run there are multiple benefits.

Asking for less from Lowry and DeRozan over the rest of the regular season puts them in a position to do more in the playoffs. If that means Joseph and Ross make some strides in their development, even better. At the very least it's an opportunity to see if they're capable of being more than useful role players in the future and evaluate where they really fit as building blocks for this team. With a 4 1/2 game cushion for second place in the Eastern Conference, Toronto can afford to experiment some.

After carrying the Raptors for the first half of 2014-15, Lowry broke down over the last couple months of the season and was a shell of his All-Star self in the playoffs. While he's in better physical shape this season than he was in the past, there's still the risk he starts to wear down or sustains a more serious injury. Same goes for DeRozan. If either of them goes down, so do Toronto's postseason chances. The Raptors need their two All-Stars close to 100% in mid-April, and managing their minutes from here until the end of the regular season is the best way to keep them healthy for when it counts. All it takes is a couple minutes per game.

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Israel Fehr is a writer for Yahoo Canada Sports. Email him at israelfehr@yahoo.ca or follow him on Twitter. Follow @israelfehr