As per media reports:
Lowry & A-Johnson are OUT tonight for the #raptors. Casey wouldn’t confirm who’d start at PF but says he’s leaning towards Hansbrough again
— Eric Smith (@Eric__Smith) April 8, 2015
Lowry will miss his seventh straight game, while Johnson sits for the second straight night. In tough against the pesky Hornets who sit outside the playoff picture, hoping to get in, the game poses a rather large challenge for the Raptors now that 40% of their starting lineup is out.
It’s all good, though, as the goal here appears to be to get ready for the playoffs, and my guess is that we don’t see Lowry until the last three games of the season, and that too with light minutes. For Johnson, well, his ankles have been rolling since three years, so I’m quite sure he’ll be just fine for Game 1.
In some good news, Dwane Casey is working on some sets ahead of the playoffs:
“We’re working on some things offensively and defensively that we know we’re going to have to use down the stretch in the playoffs”
“It’s a two-edged sword. You don’t want to expose everything, we have scouts from all potential teams at our games so we have to make sure we don’t over-expose ourselves but at the same time, we have to get some game situations.”
Ah, the old double-edged sword. Don’t worry, Dwane. I don’t think your defense is going to surprise anyone at this point, unless you now have Hansbrough playing the point. So please don’t waste the opportunity offered by these games for fear of “exposing” anything.
