Desperate Raptors making excuses
Associated Press
|  | | Has McGrady's contract situation affected the Raptors? |
TORONTO -- Toronto Raptors coach Butch Carter is blaming
contract issues for his team's 2-0 playoff deficit against the New
York Knicks.
"The biggest advantage the Knicks have over us is that their
top eight guys are all under contract and focused on winning.
Winning is the only thing they think about," Carter said Thursday.
"It's not the case here."
Three of the nine players Carter uses in his rotation will be
free agents this year: Tracy McGrady, Dee Brown and Muggsy Bogues.
The other six are signed through at least 2001-02.
"It affects the group. It just affects the group. I won't
expand on it more," Carter said.
Asked if McGrady's impending free agency was a distraction,
Carter said: "I don't think that. I think we've seen a 20-year-old
show more maturity than most grown men."
Toronto general manager Glen Grunwald didn't know what to make
of Carter's comments.
"The Knicks have a huge advantage right now because they're up
2-0," Grunwald said with a laugh. "That's what I would say."
Carter, meanwhile, criticized the media for not giving the
5-year-old Raptors enough credit. On Sunday, they'll become the
first Canadian NBA team to play host to a playoff game.
"All year long, the milestones that have happened here have
really been underscored by the media. There have been a bunch of
milestones that have been accomplished, and I don't think we've
seen a fair amount of attention paid to them," said Carter, who
wouldn't say what milestones he was talking about, although the
team did make the playoffs for the first time and won more than
half its games for the first time.
The Raptors and Knicks both took Thursday off, and Carter said
his team needed a break after a disheartening one-point loss
Wednesday night.
"I think the Knicks are being allowed to push and bang us
around, and it has taken its toll on my group," he said. "I'm
glad we do have these days in between because they are physically
banging the hell out of us."
Carter plans to go with the same starting lineup on Sunday. That
means Bogues starts again at point guard instead of Doug Christie.
The Raptors got out to the hoped-for quick start in Game 2 under
the direction of Bogues.
Carter was grilled Thursday on Vince Carter's decision to pass
the ball to an open Brown for the final shot of Wednesday's game.
It was the only shot Brown took.
"I have no problems with the shot," the coach said. "We
shouldn't have been in that situation. We missed too many free
throws in the fourth quarter."
Latrell Sprewell gave the Knicks their first lead of the game
since the second minute on a short jumper over Vince Carter's
fingertips with 7.9 seconds to play, capping a 25-point night.
But don't look for the Raptors to double-team Sprewell on
Sunday, because Carter doesn't want to give New York open 3-point
shots.
"Sprewell has been there before and this is Vince's first time,
and he's learning that he's going to be evaluated on both sides of
the ball," the coach said. "During the course of the year, he has
come up with big stops on people.
"He's playing a better player who is more experienced, and he
has to grow and learn to do a better job."
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