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The names on the marquee when the Toronto Raptors meet the Orlando Magic for the opening game of their best-of-seven first-round playoff series will be two of the NBA's best young stars.
The Raptors are led by long and lithe forward Chris Bosh, who does his best work using a reliable jump shot to set up twisting drives to the basket with either hand.
The Magic get its identity from Superman himself – the not-at-all-inappropriate nickname taken on by Dwight Howard, a 22-year old centre who led the NBA in rebounds and dunks this season.
But the real matchup in the series, expected to start Sunday in Orlando, is one of even greater contrasts: Superman against Rasho Nesterovic, the quiet, unassuming veteran centre who is more like the NBA's version of Clark Kent.
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“He so good it's tough to stop him 1-on-1,” Nesterovic said of Howard after a light practice yesterday. With its playoff seeding set, Toronto will play a largely meaningless final regular-season game against the Bulls in Chicago tonight.
“You have to make it as tough as you can, but to stop him completely is impossible. We have to have team defence and help each other.”
But Nesterovic can help his team the most by limiting the number of times the Raptors have to double-team Howard.
Like Toronto, Orlando is a good three-point shooting team that likes to open up opportunities by starting the ball down low and finding the open man if a second defender goes to help in the post.
Howard's size (6 foot 11, 270 pounds) and tireless energy make him an almost automatic double-team candidate. Even Nesterovic said the Magic big man had surpassed Phoenix Suns star Shaquille O'Neal as the strongest player in the NBA.
“You want to make [Howard] tired, but I don't know if he gets tired, he's in such great shape,” Nesterovic said. “But if you can take away some double teams and some rotation, it should help.”
At first glance, Nesterovic has no chance.
Howard is young and fast. Nesterovic is not.
Howard is one of the most explosive leapers in the NBA. Nesterovic is not.
NBA insiders allow for the possibility that Howard – whose body has the proportions of an NFL free safety – is one of the best pure athletes in sports today.
When it comes to Nesterovic, NBA insiders sometimes marvel at how few and far between are the 7-foot Slovenian's dunks.
Howard is on the verge of superstardom; Nesterovic could barely get of the bench with the Raptors this season.
But he did eventually, replacing a slumping Andrea Bargnani. And now the hope is he can at least neutralize Howard, who has 30-point games against Toronto each of the past two seasons.
“He'll make him work for everything,” said Darrick Martin, now one of the Raptors assistant coaches after being waived by the club earlier this season. “Rasho maybe doesn't appear to be physically strong, but he's dense. You're not going to move him. He's got that old-man strength. He knows how to play and how to position himself.”
And there is precedent. Last December, with Bosh out with an injury, Nesterovic played Howard mostly without help and held the Magic centre to 17 points on 6-for-17 shooting in one of the important wins the Raptors had in the season.
He did it then and is hoping to do it again by colliding with Howard as far from the basket as possible and then holding his position to get Howard out of his comfort zone.
Nesterovic will then make a point of taking away Howard's preferred post move – a right-handed jump hook – and live with the consequences if Howard can go to his next-best move.
“Veteran players like Rasho, they read the scouting report,” Raptors head coach Sam Mitchell said.
The Raptors are 1-2 against the Magic this season, but the two teams haven't played since Nesterovic was reinstated as a starter alongside Bosh.
That development has coincided with the best two months of Nesterovic's 11-year NBA career. Since March 1, he's averaging 17.1 points a game on 56.8-per-cent shooting.
In his best month of his best statistical season, Nesterovic, 32, averaged 12.5 points a game in December of 2002 as a 26-year-old teammate of Mitchell's with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
If Nesterovic can establish his offensive game – mostly little layups, jump hooks and short jumpers he finds room for with teams focusing on Bosh – the hope is he will draw Howard from the basket and allow Bosh room to work while making sure Howard has anything but.
