Columnist image

TSN Raptors Reporter

| Archive

TORONTO - By 10:00pm, the result of the Toronto Raptors' Tuesday night meeting with the New York Knicks seemed trivial, though the home team did manage to lose in spectacular fashion.

Starting small forward DeMarre Carroll, who had been generously listed as 'questionable' entering the contest, was sidelined nursing a pesky foot ailment, while the news of his back-up Terrence Ross - out indefinitely with ligament damage to his thumb - had just come down.

Suddenly, the Raptors had lost more than their third consecutive outing. They will be awfully thin on the wing for the foreseeable future.

"I mean, it's definitely tough," admitted DeMar DeRozan, following his team's disappointing 111-109 loss to New York (with an assist from the officiating crew). "Especially at the wing position, where we definitely need that extra scoring and extra defending. Critical players that play a big role." 

Carroll has been battling plantar fasciitis, a painful foot condition that tends to linger and flare up at a moment's notice. Before missing Sunday's game in Miami, he told reporters he was operating at 70 per cent. Wisely, the Raptors are playing it safe with their $60 million-investment. The plan was always to rest him on Tuesday and, in all likelihood, he'll be out even longer.

"Well, we've got to get all men on board right now," Dwane Casey said. "Guys on deck, guys that are in uniform have to be ready to play. We'd like to have DeMarre back, but we've got to take care of his health first. That's kind of where we are right now."

Ross was working out on Monday when his hand collided with a teammate.

"It hit me in the [wrong] spot," said the 24-year-old, wearing a brace on his left thumb and wrist after Tuesday's game. "I thought it might have been a jam, but it didn't feel like that after a while. It started swelling up, so I went to the trainer. It's tough. It's my first time being injured [during the season]."

There's no timetable for his return to basketball activities, but Ross expects to miss two weeks, at minimum.

Although both Carroll and Ross have struggled with their jumpers early in the season - each shooting below 37 per cent from the field - they're, historically, the team's most accurate three-point marksmen. They are also two of Toronto's best perimeter defenders, evident on Tuesday, when their absence was felt against Carmelo Anthony and the Knicks.

James Johnson moved into the starting lineup and did a commendable job on Anthony, particularly in the second half. Without many viable and experienced options on his bench, Casey turned to the sparingly used Anthony Bennett to play out of position as the back-up three-man. Understandably, Bennett - a natural power forward - was a fish out of water defending a player of Anthony's calibre. In just three minutes guarding the Knicks' star, Anthony went off for 10 of his 17 second-quarter points.

"It's tough on him," Casey said. "You're asking a young man to do something he hasn't done. It was a great experience for him. I thought he did a good job. Believe me, Carmelo does that to a lot of people and I thought he and James did as good a job as anybody on Carmelo."

In Carroll, the Raptors will be without an elite perimeter defender, sure, but they'll also miss his unheralded offensive contributions.

"It changes a lot," DeRozan said. "Takes out a three-point shooter, a guy who can stretch the floor, a great defender and one of our best cutters on the team. Once you take that off the team, the dynamic of the offence kind of changes a little bit."

Once 5-0, the vibe around the team has changed in a hurry. Just eight games into the season, with two important members of their nine-man rotation sidelined indefinitely and a daunting stretch of the schedule ahead of them, the Raptors must go back to the drawing board.

Casey will be forced to get creative with his lineup. Mostly, that means a lot more small ball. Cory Joseph, one of Toronto's most reliable players early in the season, figures to see an increased role off the bench. The tandem of Joseph and Kyle Lowry has outscored opponents by 33 points in 88 minutes when they've shared the floor. 

At least for the time being, Johnson should continue to start and will be given the chance to play a more prominent role in the rotation, something Raptors fans have been clamouring for since late last season. Rookie Norman Powell could also get a look.

"Injuries are part of the NBA," Casey said. "But the good thing about it, James Johnson, that's one reason why he's here is to defend bigger and strong threes and twos. It breaks up your continuity, your spacing a little a bit. James doesn't space the floor like DeMarre does. But it's next man up. DeMarre will be back when he's back. He's going to be day-to-day. Someone has to take advantage of the opportunity. Everybody wants time, wants minutes and lo and behold, unfortunately, injuries are the reason some guys get it."

"We have no other choice but to [move forward]," DeRozan added. "We understand that those guys are out, so other guys at the position have got to step up. The starters as well, we might have to play a little bit more minutes to pick up the slack and hold it down as long as we can."

--

THE MISSED CALL

Just when you thought the Raptors' luck couldn't get much worse, enter the officials. 

With just over 20 seconds remaining, Toronto down by one, the Knicks inbounded the ball to Anthony, who was quickly met by three Raptor defenders. Trapped on the sideline, right in front of Casey and the Raptors' bench, Anthony attempted to pivot his way out of trouble. In doing so, the Knicks' forward stepped out of bounds, but no call was made. Instead, Anthony slipped the ball to teammate Lance Thomas, who was fouled and knocked down his free throws, pushing New York's lead to three.

Irate, Casey made his case, pleading for, at the very least, the play to be reviewed.

"It's a fast game, it's a tough game," said a diplomatic Casey after the loss. "It was right there in front of me. We weren't trying to foul, we were trying to trap. The video showed that he stepped out of bounds. It's a fast game. I'mma look at it again. We've got a million different angles. I saw it with my own eyes in front of me. Again, it's a tough game to officiate. I wouldn't say anything if it wasn't right there in front of me. I thought it was out of bounds, but I guess Tony (Brown) felt like it was different."

"There was no explanation. It was a one-point game with 20 seconds to go, crucial part of the game. We weren't trying to foul, we told the official we weren't fouling, we were trapping. It is what it is."

Per the league's replay guidelines, a play can only be reviewed if the call is made on the court. Because there was no whistle - no out-of-bounds call -  the officials are not permitted to go back and look at, or change, the result of the play.

After the game, a pool reporter spoke with crew chief Ed Malloy, who recognized the mistake and admitted that, upon seeing the video, the ball should have been awarded to Toronto.

It's a tough pill to swallow for the Raptors, who get nothing tangible out of this acknowledgement. They would have had a chance to take the lead or even win the game with 17 seconds left but, as is the case on most nights, this contest was not decided by one play. Toronto had its opportunities.

The Raptors were fortunate to regain possession after DeRozan missed a free throw on the subsequent possession. With five seconds left and a chance to tie, DeRozan's reverse layup - a shot he makes nine times out of 10 - rimmed out.

"It's a lot of things we're definitely frustrated about," DeRozan said. "But we still had a chance to pull it out."