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TORONTO — The Toronto Raptors cruised to a comfortable 103-95 win over the New York Knicks at the Air Canada Centre last night, but comfort is the last thing the club's coaching staff and front office want as the team enters the final 10 games of the regular season.
"I want my guys ready to fight," head coach Sam Mitchell said. "The playoffs start now."
The Knicks fought only so hard, though they kept the Raptors within 10 points for much of the fourth quarter.
Toronto won for the second consecutive game to improve to 37-35, while the Knicks dropped to 20-52.
Newly signed Linton Johnson III sits on the bench waiting for court time that never came. (J.P. Moczulski/CP)
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- New York Knicks
- Toronto Raptors
- Andrea Bargnani
- Chris Bosh
- Jamal Crawford
- T.J. Ford
- Jared Jeffries
- Linton Johnson
- David Lee
- Rasho Nesterovic
- Anthony Parker
- Zach Randolph
- Quentin Richardson
The win, coupled with a Philadelphia 76ers loss last night, moved the Raptors into the No. 6 seed in the NBA's Eastern Conference, which would put them against the Orlando Magic in the first round rather than the No. 2 Detroit Pistons.
But that isn't the current concern. Ramping up the rhetoric has been the theme of the week.
Last Sunday, Chris Bosh made his disappointment known with the Raptors' tentative fourth-quarter play. Last Monday, Raptors president Bryan Colangelo and the team's coaching staff sat down over a long lunch meeting to consider their options with the team in a 3-11 funk.
The first move was the shift of T.J. Ford and Rasho Nesterovic into the starting lineup in place of Andrea Bargnani and Jose Calderon.
The next was the addition of NBA journeyman Linton Johnson on a 10-day contract that began last night.
The 6-foot-8 swingman didn't take the floor last night, but adding a big wing player who isn't allergic to floor burns this late in the season should help make the point.
"We're looking for … those intangible things: getting on the floor for loose balls, bringing some grit and toughness to our basketball team," Mitchell said. "You can't keep asking for that. After a while of asking [if you don't get it], it's Bryan and my job to go find it. We've been asking for that, but if it's not in their DNA, let's find someone for who it is in their DNA."
The obvious object of the message is Jamario Moon, the Raptors' rookie who made the team as a defensive presence and energy source, but has been prone to inconsistency on both counts.
If there was a message being sent, it was hard to tell whether Moon received it. Before the game, Moon was sitting beside Johnson getting acquainted with a new teammate who shares the same birthday and — potentially — some of his court time. During the game, he was fairly ordinary, with seven points and five rebounds.
"It doesn't bother me," Moon said. "I just look at it, whatever happens, is going to happen anyway. So I just figure I'll make friends with him, make him feel comfortable and help him get acclimated to what we're doing. I don't look at it like he's coming to take my job. If it's meant for me to be out of here, it's going to happen whether I worry about it or not."
Johnson has been through this routine before. This is his sixth NBA team in five years. Most recently, he lasted through two 10-day contracts in Phoenix before the Suns decided to let him go for financial reasons.
"Whether I've been here or I'm the new guy here, you still go hard at the person," said Johnson, who will get his first chance in practice today before the Raptors' game against the New Orleans Hornets tomorrow. "That's the nature of basketball, that's the nature of competition. I expect that, I welcome that, and they should, too. I'm the new guy and I'm hungry, but you should always be hungry."
It's an attitude welcomed by Bosh, who got the week's campaign against complacency rolling with his measured yet firm rebuke last Sunday.
"Sometimes the team just has to take constructive criticism, that's part of the business," said Bosh, who had possibly his best offensive game since returning from his knee injury, posting 29 points and 10 rebounds. "You take, you learn from it and you move on, and [internal] competition is part of that."
The Knicks were hardly an ideal measuring stick as they played loose and small for most of the night. The Raptors grabbed 45 rebounds to the Knicks' 38 as New York lacked any inside presence, allowing centre Rasho Nesterovic to continue his strong play with 18 points and 10 rebounds.
Toronto shot 50.7 per cent from the floor and held New York to just 39.3 per cent.
Toronto led 32-23 after the first quarter and 49-44 at halftime, but the Knicks were never closer than that the rest of the way, and the Raptors coasted home to fight another night.
