THE CANADIAN PRESS
TORONTO — Sam Mitchell remembers playing for the Indiana Pacers team that got on a roll in the 1994 Eastern Conference finals, and stormed past Shaquille O’Neal and the Orlando Magic in a series sweep.
"They were picked to run us out of the gym," Mitchell said. "But a two-point game, Byron Scott gets open and makes a three and we win Game 1.
"Now all of a sudden we’ve got confidence. We play Game 2, we win on the road."
The Toronto Raptors open the first round of the playoffs Sunday against the Magic at Orlando.
Mitchell wishes he could flick that elusive switch that starts a team on a roll. But all the coach can do is hope the team rounds into form at the right time, after a regular season that was missing any sense of momentum.
"It’s an unbelievable feeling when you get it going. I don’t feel like we’ve done that all year," Mitchell said. "Last year, we got on some rolls, this year it was always something. We finally get Chris (Bosh) clicking and he gets hurt, then T.J. (Ford) is playing one of the best games I’ve seen him play in Atlanta, and the last play of the game he gets hurt and ends up missing seven weeks.
"There’s no rhyme or reason for when it happens, but you have to remember all these guys are NBA players and they’re good, and when it’s your night it’s your night," Mitchell added. "If we get a couple of guys going at the right time, it’s our night."
The Raptors went 41-41 in the regular season, a disappointment coming off last year’s 47-win campaign when the team captured its first Atlantic Division title and Mitchell earned coach of the year honours.
Toronto finished sixth in the Eastern Conference, capping the regular season with a mean-nothing 107-97 loss at Chicago on Wednesday, and then Mitchell gave his team the day off Thursday before regrouping and focusing on the task ahead.
The Raptors were ousted in the first round by the New Jersey Nets in last year’s playoffs — their first post-season appearance in five years — and Bosh and Co., admitted the heightened pressure of the playoffs caught them off guard.
Mitchell said there’s no way to prepare a young player for the post-season experience, and he can only hope a year under their belt will benefit his players when the bright lights of game night go on.
"It’s different," Mitchell said. "Me telling Chris Bosh the first time around how it was for me, it’s not going to help Chris Bosh, because they hear it, but they don’t hear it.
"It’s different for every person, it means something different for every guy. You have to experience it, that’s why the more you experience it, the better you become at dealing with it."
One plus in facing Orlando, which finished third in the Eastern Conference, is that the Magic is also a young team with not much post-season experience. All-star forward Dwight Howard made his post-season debut last year, and the Magic were swept by the Detroit Pistons in the opening round.
Game 2 of the series is Tuesday at Orlando. The Raptors return home to host the Magic at the Air Canada Centre on April 24, while Game 4 is at the ACC on April 26.
