Relief spelled with a W
RAPTORS WIN Awinning team is a happy team
On the day when Win No. 1 turned into an unlikely runaway, the dying moments were suddenly alive with a possibility other than impending doom. On the day the Raptors beat the Miami Heat, 107-94, the discordant team that had lost nine straight games to open a sadsack season was suddenly a united front.
“ Everyone,” said Mike James, the hot-shooting guard, “ likes each other again.”
Said Chris Bosh, the franchise forward: “ The people are nicer. The food tastes better. Practice is more fun. It definitely lightens up the mood. . . . When you win, nobody’s mad at each other. You don’t have to make up the next day or anything like that.”
If the no- longer- winless Raptors were searching for an inspiring parable on the eve of a four- game Western Conference road trip that begins tomorrow night in Phoenix, they might recall last season’s edition of the Chicago Bulls, which began the campaign with nine consecutive losses en route to making the playoffs. Or they might study the particulars of another ledfromthe-wilderness precedent, the 2004-05 Heat, who lost seven before win No. 1, then ended up advancing to the second round of the post- season. Not that these Raptors are poised to storm to their first playoff berth in four seasons. The accomplishment yesterday, after all, was to put an end to the count- up toward the NBA- record 17-game season-opening losing streak most recently achieved by the L. A. Clippers. But turnarounds — like yesterday’s final frame, in which the Raptors out- scored the visitors 40- 24 — can happen.
“(The season-opening losing streak) was a huge deal and it was difficult to go through,” said Stan Van Gundy, the Miami coach then and now. “( But) every team in this league is going to have their good stretches and their bad stretches. . . . (The Raptors are) just going through it early.”
Indeed, about 88 per cent of the schedule has yet to be played. But in the case of the Raptors, who have suffered six
of their nine losses at home ( as opposed to last year’s Bulls, who lost six of their opening nine on the road), improvements will be more incremental than incredible. Still, there are already small success stories buried beneath the rubble. Bosh, who had 27 points and 12 rebounds yesterday, came into the game tied for fourth in the league in rebounding, which helps to account for why the Raptors, who were dead last in the league in total rebounding percentage last year, have leap- frogged five teams to currently stand sixth- last.
Yesterday they out- rebounded the Heat, a bigger club thanks in large part to the presence of Raptor handoff Alonzo Mourning, rather handily, 47- 39. And credit Charlie Villanueva, who had a game- high five offensive boards, for making a lot of the difference. But beating the Heat, even without Shaquille O’Neal, who was sidelined with an ankle problem, was no one- man gig. It took the hoop- wise resurrection of those long thought dead. Jalen Rose, who’d been in a ninegame funk, scored 10 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter. Mike James scored 14 of his 25 in the closing frame. And all game, players who hadn’t been contributing added a little something.
Rafael Araujo, the until- yesterdayabysmal centre, stayed out of foul trouble long enough to rile Mourning, who started strong and faded. (“ If I p--- him off,” said Araujo, “ that’s good for me.”) And so the celebration was cued.
In the dying, oh- so- alive moments, the announced crowd of 17,594 sounded bigger and the speakers blasted that old Twisted Sister tune, the one with the chorus that goes, “ We’re not going to take it . . . anymore.” After taking it where it hurts for nearly three weeks, the Raptors were finally taking one home. Some would have said: It’s about time. Others simply bowed to the better team.
“ You won’t hear me say this very often and I don’t think it’s true very often, I think it’s just a cliché, but tonight they wanted to win a lot more than we did,” said Van Gundy. “ We were hoping we would win. We were hoping some shots would go in. But we didn’t dig down and make each possession tough on them. . . . They deserved to win.”