Tag Archives: toronto

“He wanted the basketball,” Raptors coach Jay Triano said, “and we gave it to him.”

“It doesn’t matter who starts, it doesn’t matter who plays more minutes, we’ve got to win games. We’re upset because we’re losing games. We’re not upset because I’m not playing or I’m not starting”.

"No. What else do you want me to do?" he said. "Do you want me to score 30, 40 points a game? Twenty blocks a game? That's not my game. That's not what I do. I try to get these guys going, and that's pretty much it. I'm not weak-minded by any means.

“I thought Jose was playing pretty darn well,” said Triano. “I thought we had a good rhythm with that group so I just rolled with it. When he was on the floor, I thought we were playing pretty darn good.” However, the coach stopped short of confirming a permanent shift for Wednesday’s game at home against Atlanta.

“I was more concerned about Chris than the game,” Jack said.

In five minutes, Evans never lost sight of what makes him tick and what qualities he brings to Toronto's table.

As expected, he lost his wind about two minutes into his debut.

Not surprisingly, he tried things he would normally not attempt, understandable given how excited he appeared.

All in all, it was quite the debut, a coming-out party that has no parallel in Raptors history.

No matter who’s in town the Toronto Raptors continue to win at home. The suddenly surging Philadelphia 76ers, however, might have a good chance to change that.

Head coach Jay Triano marvels at the fact that Evans could be out as long as he has with an injury that immobilized him for much of his almost four months and not add a single pound to his bulky 245-pound frame.

Evans though sends the credit for that to the trio of assistant trainers Rory Mullin and Ray Chow and assistant strength coach Jonny Lee.

For the better part of three quarters, the Raptors do enough good things and just enough bad things to keep a game close. But with the game on the line, these Raptors find a way to close things out and that more than any reason is why they have won nine of their past 12 and are openly talking about a playoff push and even home court advantage for the early going.