‘“They’re going to be as desperate as any team we’re going to play,” Ruff said after practice Friday in HSBC Arena. “We know now that the fight even gets bigger. The battles are going to get harder. The intensity is going to go up because we’re at a point now where you can keep moving up or you can just stay in the battle for the rest of the run. Emotionally and physically, you’ve got to engage even more in the games to win those battles, to try and separate from the rest of the teams.”’