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The Toronto Raptors have started the past three games as if their hands were blocks of ice and their joints as creaky as an old car on a January morning.
The Raptors didn't make a field goal until six minutes into the first quarter on Wednesday night against Orlando. In Milwaukee on Tuesday, they made only nine of their first 21 shots, and that was a significant improvement from the performance on Sunday against Boston, when the Raptors scored only 14 points in the first quarter.
The obvious remedy then is to change the starting lineup and inject more — defence?
That's the plan for tonight's game against the Philadelphia 76ers as the Raptors hope to halt a three-game losing string and improve their record to 3-3.
Raptors forward Andrea Bargnani loses control of the ball as he drives to the hoop past Orlando Magic forward Hedo Turkoglu. (Frank Gunn/CP)
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- Philadelphia 76ers
- Toronto Raptors
- Andrea Bargnani
- Carlos Delfino
- Jason Kapono
- Rasho Nesterovic
- Anthony Parker
In place of Andrea Bargnani, the Raptors' leading scorer in their two win and third-leading scorer (14.2 points a game) on the season, Raptors head coach Sam Mitchell is going to start Rasho Nesterovic at centre, even though the veteran has scored 12 points in five games on 37.5-per-cent shooting.
"It's nothing that Andrea's done," Mitchell said. "I talked to Andrea about it. It's not a reflection about how he's played. It's about trying to get the most out of all our guys. It seems like for him, [Rasho] coming off the bench, being an older guy, it's harder for him."
A more subtle reason is that when it comes to the Raptors' woes, less may be more.
The team's starters have been outscored 244-167 in the three losses, with most of that damage coming in the past two when Milwaukee trounced them 75-28 and Orlando held a 92-65 edge.
While Bargnani was perhaps the Raptors best offensive player in the first two games, 41 points combined and 10 second-half points against Orlando (like nearly everyone else, Bargnani was a no-show against the Bucks) it seems the Raptors have struggled to find enough opportunities for the perimeter-oriented big man as well as wings Anthony Parker, Jason Kapono and Carlos Delfino, who were a combined 6-for-22 on Tuesday.
Parker, in particular, has struggled. A 44.1-per-cent three-point shooter last season, Parker is shooting 55.6 per cent this season, but has taken only four triples in the past three games, making none.
"It's just me," said Parker, who is shooting 40 per cent over five games. "Whatever looks I get are shots I shoot a high percentage at. I get to put the time in and get the extra shots in and start making them."
But Mitchell seemed to acknowledge that finding shots for Bosh, Bargnani, Parker and Kapono in the starting lineup has proved a challenge. Nesterovic is one less mouth to feed, offensively.
Bargnani thrived in the preseason when Bosh was out with a knee problem and played well in the opening two games when Bosh played relatively limited minutes.
"[Coming off the bench] may give Andrea more offensive touches, especially when he comes in the game for Chris," said Mitchell, who said Bargnani would continue to play about 30 minutes a game. "When he and Chris are on the floor, it gets a little jumbled now. It's just going to take time, but eventually it's going to be him and Chris. We all know that him and Chris are going to be our five and four."
The Raptors are actually struggling on both ends of the floor. The Bucks shot 76 per cent against them in the first quarter and the Magic shot 57.1 per cent. In each case they were aided by easy transition baskets off Raptors misses, but the hope is that the defensively-minded Nesterovic can help the club get close to the calibre of defence they were playing over the first three games, when they held opponents to 88 points a game.
"I think individually and collectively we'll get some confidence when we see some shots go down, but we can't let what happens on the offensive end affect the defensive end," Parker said. "A lot of that is getting back in transition and buckling down and playing defence."
The Raptors were last in the Atlantic Division heading into games last night and tied for 11th in the Eastern Conference.
