Raptors: Fluid experiment ends with close call at home

Make no mistake, there is no good time for an NBA player to get injured, and the Toronto Raptors would far prefer to have OG Anunoby rather than have the rookie miss a few games because of a sprained ankle.

But Anunoby is out and that presents a chance to tinker, and tinker is what coach Dwane Casey will do.

In an effort simply to take a look at a young player with the opportunity upon him, Casey inserted rookie Malcolm Miller into the starting lineup when Toronto beat the Charlotte Hornets 103-98 at the Air Cana- da Centre on Sunday.

Miller took the place of Norm Powell, who started for Anunoby on Friday in Washington, and Casey implored people not to read too much into it.

“We’re going to look at different people in that situation (while) OG is out, just to use this as a teaching tool,” Casey said. “It doesn’t mean anybody’s ahead of anybody else, so don’t make a, what is it, (backup) quarterback issue?

“There’s no drama whatsoever. We’re going to look at differ- ent people in different parts of the game in different positions.”

Sunday would have seemed like a perfect opportunity against a listing Charlotte team that’s almost played itself out of any shot at a miracle run at a playoff spot. The Raptors had handily beaten the Hornets three times earlier this season, Charlotte was wrapping up a three-game road trip and Toronto has the best home record in the NBA — now at 26-5.

But the Raptors weren’t razor sharp and needed to pull out another close game in the final five minutes, as they did Friday in Washington.

“I would say last year we prob- ably would have lost that game but we were mature enough to make plays, the right plays," Casey said. "The dog days of the year right now — you can’t see the end of it. “DeMar DeRozan made a big three-pointer to give Toronto a seven-point lead with about 2 1⁄ 2 minutes to go, and Jonas Valanciunas got a huge offensive rebound that led to a DeRozan three-point play that gave the Raptors a comfortable 10-point lead with two minutes left, which they were able to ride home.

DeRozan finished with 19 points, and Valanciunas had 18 and 13 rebounds for Toronto.

Miller played 14 minutes, and Casey got some time for Powell in the second quarter as well in the grand Anunoby replacement experiment.

“There’s no battle for positions,” Casey said. “We’re just evaluating . . . You can’t step in against (Nicolas) Batum and be an all-star. We knew that was going to be a battle. (Miller) held his own.”