No rest for reeling Raps
Mitchell orders off-day practice after ugly loss Rose stays mum on getting benched against Warriors
Sam Mitchell certainly wasn’t in the mood for a chat and Jalen Rose stayed mum on an issue that’s dogged him a couple of times already this season. If there are frayed nerves and rocky relationships around the Raptors, neither of the two principals seems willing to discuss them publicly. But as the worst team in the NBA trundled home yesterday, going from San Francisco to Toronto and right to the Air Canada Centre practice facility, the storm clouds continued to gather.
Rose, the team’s most veteran player but the one mired in the ugliest of slumps, was benched along with fellow veteran Mike James for all but about 90 seconds of the second half of a horrific loss to Golden State on Saturday. He sat sullenly on the bench as Toronto coughed up a 117-91 loss to the Warriors in one of the team’s worst performances of the season, joined there by James as everyone else save Aaron Williams and Loren Woods got into the game. And while there is more than enough blame to be passed around for the team’s struggles this season, it seems Rose has become something of a lightning rod. He played seven minutes in a loss to Philadelphia, has cracked the 35- minute barrier only five times in Toronto’s first 14 games and has become the poster boy for Toronto’s struggles. But it’s not as if anyone else is doing much of anything — the Raptors have the worst record in the NBA at 1- 13 and there’s a perception that Mitchell, knowing what the future holds, has Rose, and James and Morris Peterson to some extent, on a much shorter leash than any of the team’s rookies. The question after Saturday was obvious: Were Rose and James being singled out?
“ No comment,” the normally loquacious Rose said bluntly, terminating a short chat with reporters yesterday afternoon.
Mitchell, meanwhile, didn’t even offer that. He left the practice facility in a hurry while many of his players were still working out, letting anyone within earshot know that he had no desire to speak with reporters, one of the rare occasions he hasn’t stopped to offer some sort of insight into what’s going on with his club. He left the explanation for the hurriedly-scheduled practice, and the team’s utter collapse against the Warriors, to his lead assistant Jim Todd and the players. Before the stinker against Golden State — the game was not nearly as close as even the lopsided score would indicate — the plan was for the Raptors to fly home yesterday, take the day off to get acclimated to the eastern time zone again and rest before facing the Dallas Mavericks at home tonight. But Mitchell changed that plan in the wake of Saturday’s loss, deciding the team should catch a 6: 30 a. m. bus in California, take the five-hour flight back home and head immediately to the gym.
If it was punishment for the transgressions in Oakland, no one would admit it.
“ I would say if anything it was trying to get a sour taste out of our mouths and get their legs back underneath them,” said Todd.
“ They were in here for like an hour and a half, max, but they AIR CANADA CENTRE TIPOFF: 7 p. m. TV: The Score RADIO: FAN 590 GLANTZ-CULVER LINE: Mavs by 71⁄
2 FOR STARTERS: Toronto: Mike James, Jalen Rose, Morris Peterson, Chris Bosh, Rafael Araujo. Dallas: Jason Terry, Marquis Daniels, Dirk Nowitzki, Keith Van Horn, Erick Dampier. OF NOTE:
Josh Howard of the Maverick injured his right ankle Saturday and did not travel with the team. . . . Word is the Mavs might sign Adrian Griffin; that probably won’t make a difference. . . . Dallas thrived under no- nonsense coach Avery Johnson, who’s as irritable as Sam Mitchell, only shorter. . . . The Raptors are unbeaten in one at home. UP NEXT:
Viva Espana! Memphis and Pau Gasol visit the Raps and Jose Calderon. Ole! got their shots up and we went through some defensive things,” Todd added. No one knows if the move will pay off, no one’s sure if the Raptor team that shows up tonight will be the one that could have won any of the first three games of the recently- completed western swing or the one that looked lost, non- competitive and lackadaisical in Oakland.
There is no doubt Mitchell was at least trying to make a point by scheduling the workout. Tonight will determine whether the message hit home.
“ It’s a Catch- 22,” said Rose. “ If we go out and play well, it was a great move, if we don’t play well, it’s going to be questioned. The bottom line is we’re a young team, practising is something we need to do.”