TORONTO — It was not a conventional move, starting a struggling point guard over one who has been thriving.
But the Toronto Raptors are in strange straits, risking having their NBA season washed away by a late collapse.
So T.J. Ford went into the starting lineup, taking the place of Jose Calderon. Even stranger, the move came at the request of Calderon.
And stranger still, it worked, as the Raptors got a rare win last night against a quality opponent, 89-82 over the Detroit Pistons at the Air Canada Centre, their first win against Detroit in three tries.
Former Raptor Chauncey Billups is guarded by current Toronto player Anthony Parker. (Mark Blinch/Reuters)
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It was a timely win given the two clubs would be playoff opponents had the postseason started last night, with the Raptors as the No.ƒ|7 seed and the Pistons No.ƒ|2 in the Eastern Conference.
Both point guards played well and, at points, even well together.
They each finished with 13 points, while Ford had nine assists to four for Calderon. Calderon shot a better percentage — 4-for-6 — and added two steals.
But the biggest assist of the night — and maybe the season if the change lights a fire under the previously wallowing club — came from Calderon, who approached the coaching staff about making the move two weeks ago, was rebuffed, and made the suggestion again on Monday after tough losses in Cleveland on Friday and at home to Denver on Sunday.
"I felt we need something, we didn't know exactly what was going on or what was the problem," Calderon said. "We still don't know what it was for sure, but the important thing is we won. It was good for the team and good for the Raptors."
Toronto head coach Sam Mitchell took note of the selflessness.
"Jose, as much as I've respected him — and I do respect him — [my respect] goes through the roof because he always puts everyone before himself and he puts the betterment of the group [before him]," Mitchell said. "It's not 100 per cent that this is going to work, but we have to try something at this stage.
"We'd be doing ourselves a disservice if we didn't try."
The change seemed to spark Ford, although he was barely ordinary in the first half as both of his stints on the floor ended with the Raptors trailing. Calderon's time coincided with a Raptors surge that had them leading by five points midway through the second quarter.
Ford began to find his way in the third, as he counted eight points on three of four shooting and found his teammates for five assists.
But some of the best moments of the game came with Ford and Calderon on the floor together, a luxury the Raptors could afford because the Pistons' backcourt was small with the absence of 6-foot-7 shooting guard Richard Hamilton (hip).
Both Ford and Calderon contributed assists as the Raptors went on a 10-4 run to end the third quarter.
After Detroit cut what had grown to a 17-point Raptors lead to just five midway through the fourth, Mitchell went to his double point guard set again and was instantly rewarded as Ford set up Calderon for a three-point shot and then hit one of his own to help push the Raptors' lead back to 13, a safe cushion down the stretch.
"Whenever you have both of us on the court," Ford said, "it's a big factor because I'm more of a penetrator, and with his [Calderon's] shooting ability, I think he's a big threat the way he can shoot the three-point ball and make plays also. It worked out in our favour."
A less surprising move was Mitchell's decision to flip Rasho Nesterovic into the starting lineup ahead of struggling sophomore Andrea Bargnani.
Nesterovic played 46 minutes and scored 15 points while adding nine rebounds, continuing the veteran's stellar play in March (averaging 13 points a game on 57-per-cent shooting entering last night's game).
Bargnani's struggles — he's shooting just 37 per cent this month — continued as he shot just 1-for-4 in 13 minutes of play.
"He's just playing with a lot of confidence," Mitchell said of Nesterovic. "He works on his game every day in practice, he talks on defence, he works on defence and he's really been helping us on the boards."
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