Change is Necessary
With his team facing a 2-0 series deficit, Raptors coach Sam Mitchell knows something has to change. Exactly who that change involves, Mitchell isn’t saying.
The Raptors have lost by double-digit deficits in the first quarter of both playoff games so far against the Orlando Magic. Toronto came back and had a chance to win Game 2, but All-Star forward Chris Bosh’s last-second jumper bounced off the front rim, sealing Orlando’s 104-103 victory.
“We have to top digging holes for ourselves in the first quarter, first and foremost,” Bosh said Wednesday. “That’s the major issue right now.”
With that in mind, Mitchell plans to send out a new-look starting five for Game 3 Thursday night.
“I’m not going to divulge the lineup changes, but we are going to make some little tweaks,” Mitchell said. “We’ve lost the first two so you’ve got to do something. You’ve got to do something to try and avoid those starts.”
Bosh said Mitchell has yet to share his lineup intentions with the players.
“Usually we just talk about that on game day,” Bosh said. “I really don’t know what’s going through his mind.”
Even if Mitchell won’t say, the numbers indicate that center Rasho Nesterovic could find himself benched Thursday in favor of Jason Kapono. Nesterovic started but played only five minutes in Orlando’s Game 2 win, while Kapono came off the bench to score 20 points.
Kapono had 18 points in Game 1, which Orlando won 114-100, and has made eight 3-pointers in the series so far.
“If the starts were different, the series might be different right now,” Mitchell said. “As a coach you’ve got to look at things and you can’t be afraid to try things.”
Mitchell made no secret of his desire to shake things up after Game 2, and Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said he expects Toronto to go small after starting Bosh, Nesterovic and fellow seven-footer Andrea Bargnani in the first two games.
“I’d be very surprised if we saw them start the three big guys in Toronto,” Van Gundy said after Tuesday’s game. “I always tell you guys nothing in the NBA surprises me. That would surprise me.”
Another tweak could involve guard T.J. Ford, who has scored 11 total points and shot 2-for-17 from the field.
“It’s the playoffs, you don’t want to struggle but the reality is, I am struggling,” Ford said. “I’ve just got to find a way to get through it.”
Mitchell told a Toronto radio station Wednesday that Ford will keep his starting job for Game 3, but was coy when asked to confirm that after practice.
“Anything I said on that show, I would take with a bag of salt, not a grain,” Mitchell said.
Backup Jose Calderon, who started 24 games after Ford was sidelined by arm pain following a Dec. 11 fall in Atlanta, played the entire fourth quarter of Game 2 and finished with 18 points.
“Whatever they want to do that they feel is necessary for us to win,” Ford said. “There’s nothing I can do about it. I’m all for it.”
No matter who plays, the Raptors will continue to struggle if they can’t contain Orlando’s Dwight Howard, who had 29 points and 20 rebounds Tuesday, becoming the first player with consecutive playoff games of 20 points and 20 rebounds since Kevin Garnett in 2004.
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“He’s on his way to being a guy who we talk about 30 years down the line,” Orlando guard Keyon Dooling said Tuesday. “He’s awesome on both ends of the floor, and he’s kind of our backbone. He was tremendous on the defensive end, on the glass and offensively.”