Another day at the office for Powell
A playoff start that might have turned the series ‘wasn’t really different than any other game’
It may not seem like much of a compliment because, really, it’s just logical for highly-paid athletes to work hard regardless of their station in life.
But the fact is not that all little-used athletes work as diligently as they might — which is a big part of why they’re littleused — and being able to persevere when things aren’t going well is a skill not everyone has. So when DeMar DeRozan and Dwane Casey were discussing Norm Powell on Sunday afternoon, the Toronto Raptors player and coach both showered Powell with high praise and plucked a word out of the sky that truly means something.
“That’s a true professional right there,” DeRozan said.
“He has been a pro,” Casey chimed in a couple of minutes later. “He stayed ready, worked hard, put in extra time the way most young players should — really all young players should. Be in early, be the last one off the court . . . he kept a positive attitude. You don’t like your role but he embraced it and understood the situation.”
Powell, who has played tons and sat tons for the Raptors this season, depending on who was hurt or healthy or playing well or playing poorly, was dusted off by Casey and given a starting role in Saturday’s pivotal Game 4 of their series with the Milwaukee Bucks.
It was a logical move in the wake of Toronto’s Game 3 failings, even if it thrust a guy whose minutes have been all over the map into an important role. “I didn’t have any nerves,” Powell said. Strategically, Powell is a good fit for what the Raptors need offensively and defensively against the Bucks.
He can spread the floor on offence and handle the ball enough to free up DeRozan and Kyle Lowry, and he set solid screens for DeRozan in Game 4 that forced the Bucks to put a smaller defender on the shooting guard.
He is also another versatile defender that allows the Raptors to switch assignments on most Bucks possessions, a true disruption for a team that uses a lot of off-the-ball cuts to generate scoring opportunities at the rim.
Powell is the kind of Swiss Army knife player that coaches love to have stashed and available in emergencies.
“I prepare for this day in, day out, early mornings, late nights, extra workouts in prepping myself for the games,” Powell said. “It wasn’t really different than any other game for me, it was just going out there and playing and being inserted into a role where I needed to come out and play well for my team to win.”
Casey wouldn’t commit to leaving Powell in the starting lineup for Monday’s Game 5 of the best-of-seven series, although it would be a stunner if the Raptors changed course now.
They were solid for almost the entirety of Game 3, with Powell providing relief for DeRozan and Lowry, and Jonas Valanciunas having a solid game coming off the bench.
The Bucks, with their length and athleticism, present a unique challenge and Toronto’s versatility with a small lineup is best suited to combat that.
“We’re able to take away first, second looks, third looks, just offswitching rather than trying to fight through the screens and the back cuts,” Powell said. “We’re able to talk and it really takes them out of what they’re trying to do, run their offence as smoothly as they’ve been running it.”
Having rebounded from a disastrous Game 3 with a good Game 4 to take back home-court advantage in what is now a best-of-three series might be seen as a signal that the Raptors have some momentum going into Game 5. But, no, said their coach. “As you have seen, momentum hasn’t meant anything in this series,” Casey said. “We have to take it personally that they are coming into our home and (trying to) outwork us on our court.”