Raptors close out best season in franchise history, beat Hornets for 49th win

While the last few months of basketball haven't been especially pretty for the Toronto Raptors, the 2014-15 regular season will still go down as the most successful in franchise history.

The Atlantic divison champion Raptors improved to 49-33 following a 92-87 home win over the Charlotte Hornets in the regular season finale Wednesday, topping the franchise-record 48 wins they set in 2013-14. Kyle Lowry went for 26 points and added seven assists while DeMar DeRozan scored 16 points in his return to the starting lineup after sitting out the 95-93 loss at Boston on Tuesday to rest a sore right groin.

"It means everything to me, me personally. I’ve been here through it all. I grew here, so everything we do means a lot to me, because I feel like I played a big role in doing that," DeRozan said after game.

Toronto will open the playoffs at the Air Canada Centre on Saturday as the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference and take on Washington in the first round. The Raptors beat the Wizards in all three regular season matchups this season, but that didn't stop veteran swingman Paul Pierce from getting the trash-talking started early. Pierce, already a villainous figure in Toronto due to his time with the Celtics and Nets, said he didn't fear playing the the Raptors in the playoffs because he believes they lack a certain "it" factor.

''This is what we play for,'' said Lowry. ''Now it's the time where it gets a little bit more serious.''

Here's the entire schedule for the Raptors-Wizards first round series:

Check out Ball Don't Lie's first round preview for a rundown of all the series in the Eastern and Western Conference.

More NBA coverage from Yahoo Canada Sports:

- - - - - - -

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