Wounded Raps too much for Lakers
Forget this “next man up” stuff.
It’s “next men up” for the suddenly razor-thin Raptors.
Already down starting centre Jonas Valanciunas thanks to a broken finger on his left hand, the Raptors lost DeMarre Carroll and Lucas Nogueira to injury on Monday night, cutting deeper into the team’s questionable depth. The new group has some work to do.
In what will go down as one of the least memorable games of the season despite the Kobe Bryant love-in, the Raptors survived their own effort in a 102-93 victory behind 27 points from Kyle Lowry at the Air Canada Centre in front of a truly pro-Bryant sellout crowd.
The loss of two players who were integral to Toronto’s solid effort against the unbeaten Golden State Warriors on Saturday was a talking point but hardly an excuse for the difficulties the Raptors had against the Lakers, who dragged a 3-17 record into the game after being drilled in Detroit on Sunday.
The Raptors once again got caught playing down the level of the opposition, letting repeated leads slip away before finally putting the Lakers away in the final four minutes.
But the issue may become larger than Toronto’s lethargic play against teams they can and should bury early We got loose offensively, overhandled it a bit, and that allowed them to get back in it,” coach Dwane Casey said.
Carroll is by far the more troubling of the two latest injuries, in no small part because the team is not even offering a timetable for his return. That may be so they don’t have to err on the side of caution, but the official statement said “his status will be updated as appropriate” because of a right knee contusion.
A starter brought in as a much- needed defensive upgrade, Carroll already has missed three games with asore heel and any extended absence now will require more time to integrated with a new team.
“It’s been really bothering me for 21⁄ weeks so I went and saw a spe
2 cialist today,” Carroll said. “He was kind of surprised I’ve been playing on it. I’m like ‘I can take pain.’ It’s just one of those things. It’s been 21⁄
2 weeks and it ain’t got no better.” The Nogueira absence was met with less concern and more rolls of the eye. While an intriguing talent who had 14 points Saturday against Golden State and a solid game last week in Atlanta, he’s battled a series of muscle and joint injuries since he got to Toronto and until he can show some level of continued good health, he can’t be counted on.
“He’s coming . . . that young man has improved and gotten better and the only thing that’s held him back are his injuries,” Casey said. “Training camp last year, training camp this year, but you can see the growth in his game.”
Terrence Ross, given his first start of the season in Carroll’s spot, had 11 points in the first quarter and 22 overall.
However, the level of competition has to figure into that, and Ross needs to string together a series of even average games to be considered back from a sluggish start to the season that saw him shoot less than 30 per cent from the floor in November.
“We all have some work to do defensively, he has to get into the ball on pick-and-roll coverages . . . not being a sitting duck, but offensively I thought he got a rhythm going and for a scorer like him, having extended minutes really helped him,” Casey said. “Hopefully that gets him jumpstarted from the offensive end.”
As expected, the game for the fans was as much about paying homage to Bryant on his last appearance in Toronto as it was the event.
Bryant rewarded the audience with a muted performance that, given his season so far, was one of his best. He finished with 21 points, four assists and eight rebounds in 31 minutes.