THE BUSINESS OF BISMACK
Raptors survive a late surge from Dallas Mavericks,
It had gotten to the point that the question askers were sighing as they tried to find another way to revisit the same old, burdensome topic.
To his credit, Toronto Raptors coach Dwane Casey didn’t outwardly show any frustration over hearing the topic — his team’s penchant for slow, often loss-inducing starts — go through the blender and be reserved to him like never-ending leftovers.
Casey half-joked before Tuesday’s game against the Dallas Mavericks that his team should start their games at 8 p.m., since that’s when they usually show up.
In his team’s 103-99 win over the Dallas Mavericks, the Raptors made the slow start question go away with a season-best first quarter (32-16) and they got something very important out of a strange, shorthanded night.
The Raptors lost forward James Johnson in their warm-up to an ankle sprain. That put Terrence Ross into the starting lineup on short notice. He responded with 16 points and four three-pointers. Toronto lost forward Patrick Patterson in the third quarter to flu-like symptoms, with the responsibility of guarding Dallas superstar Dirk Nowitzki falling on the seldom-used Anthony Bennett.
Bennett provided 9:49 of playing time and withstood Nowitzki’s most productive stretch, an 11-point quarter for part of his 20-point outing. The Toronto native added five points, including a big third-quarter three-pointer, and two rebounds.
“He had to,” Casey said of Bennett guarding Nowitzki. “We had (Bennett) on Powell and Dirk subs in and you’ve got to go with it. I thought Dirk thought he had something good to eat on, but I thought A.B. held his own and hit a couple shots and did his job.”
Backup point guard Cory Joseph continued to play through a respiratory infection that Casey said has stuck with him for two weeks. Joseph scored 12 points and dished five assists as the Raptors improved to 18-12, the fifth-best record in the NBA.
Dealing with the prolonged absence of starters Jonas Valanciunas and DeMarre Carroll, the Raptors held on in the fourth quarter, with Casey using his entire shortened roster. Dallas lost guard Deron Williams to a strained hamstring in the third quarter.
“It says a lot (about this team) but whenever our backs are against the wall that’s when we play our best,” said DeMar DeRozan, who had a game-high 28 points.
The Raptors’ 32-16 first-quarter lead was their biggest of the season and their best first-quarter defensive effort. They got the lead back to 15 with six minutes left in the fourth, before the Mavericks went to work and sliced it to two points twice inside the final 26 seconds of play.
Ross’s free throws put the game away for the Raptors, capping a strong night from the team’s supporting cast, led by Bismack Biyombo’s career-best 20 rebounds. But it is Bennett, a 22-year-old former firstoverall pick on his third team in as many years, that could stand to gain the most from this win.
The Raptors sent him down to their D-League affiliate on Sunday and 48 hours later he was thrust into a tense situation on the big stage. For a player whose confidence has taken hits over the last few seasons, fighting back in a tight game against Nowitzki could go a long way.
“(My) confidence kind of went up and down the past couple of years,” Bennett said. “It definitely gets to you a bit, but you have to be positive, have a positive mindset. It’s a long season. If things aren’t working out now you still have . . . I don’t even know how many games, 50 or something. Your chance will come.”