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Terrence Ross, Ian Mahinmi both available for Game 3, and other shootaround notes

Good news!

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Toronto Raptors head coach Dwane Casey revealed at shootaround Thursday that Terrence Ross will be available for Game 3.

Ross banged heads with DeMar DeRozan late in the second quarter of Game 2 on Monday. He reported a headache afterward and was held out for the remainder of the game as a precaution, per the league’s concussion protocol. While Ross was never diagnosed with a concussion, he still needed to stays symptom-free through escalating levels of activity. He was called questionable yesterday, but another symptom-free night has him good to go, per the Raptors.


This raises a bit of a difficult question for Casey, who has shown a preference for a nine-man rotation but is juggling 10 rotation players through two games in the series. The team is still working DeMarre Carroll back up to speed, and the would-be (will-be?) defensive stopper started Game 2, sending Norman Powell to the bench. It seemed like Powell may be on the outs of the rotation, with Ross maintaining his role as the first wing off the bench to maintain consistency with the team’s deadly second unit, but Carroll got into foul trouble, Ross got hurt, and Powell had the quintessential “No Stats All-Star” performance in support.

Now, Casey will have to juggle multiple difficult decisions: Should Carroll still start, or should he become the backup four off the bench, with Powell and Patrick Patterson starting? If Carroll starts, has Powell jumped Ross in the rotation? Is Powell the odd man out due to the harsh reality of being a rookie and coming on late? Is Ross’ shooting deemed not enough of an impact given Powell’s defense and energy, shifting Ross to the 10th-man role? Or does Casey just roll with a 10-man rotation, trying to find his way with erratic and unfamiliar rotations once again?

There are no easy answers here. I know many would prefer Powell overtake Ross in the rotation, and that’s a fair stance. Powell works his tail off and has been really, really good over the last six weeks. Ross, meanwhile, is 4-of-12 in the series with 11 points in 24 minutes, and he performed poorly in each of the last two postseasons.

But Ross is also a lights-out shooting threat, one who has a strong gravitational pull on a defense and can really open up the floor for the team’s ball-handlers, and opponents respect him spotting up more than anyone else on the roster. He’s a 37.7-percent career 3-point shooter, hit 38.6 percent this year, and hit 40.1 percent from Dec. 7 on, when he averaged 11.1 points in 25.8 minutes. And while his defense is inconsistent and he too-often finds himself on the wrong end of a back-cut, he creates havoc on that end and helps push the second unit’s transition game. Of the Raptors’ five best-performing five-man units that played at least 48 minutes together, Ross was found in three, including the team’s deadly Kyle Lowry-plus-reserves group, as well as an even deadlier KL-DD-TR-PP-JV group that saw just 85 minutes together but outscored opponents by 30.2 points per-100 possessions.

So…yeah. These things are tough. It will be interesting to see how it plays out. The guess here is that 10 players still play, but projecting out the actual minutes will probably be a feel thing from Casey.

Other notes and quotes
On the Pacers’ side, Ian Mahinmi (back) didn’t participate in contact portions of shootaround but will play in Game 3, per Candace Buckner. The Pacers don’t have to go smaller now, but they have to do something to adjust to Jonas Valanciunas.

The Raptors held shootaround in Indiana but there really wasn’t much coming out on Twitter. Here are some tweets of the same things you’ve been hearing the last few days, though.

Previous: Gameday: Raptors @ Pacers, Game 3, April 21

Scott Suggs had his usual good game and is desperately waiting for a call-up from anyone.

Next: Scott Suggs wins D-League Sportsmanship Award