THE CANADIAN PRESS
TORONTO — They’ll hug, they’ll bump fists, and Dwight Howard may crack a joke that will make Chris Bosh smile.
But once the whistle blows and the ball’s tossed up, the two talented all-star forwards who happen to be great friends will be anything but. Friendships take a back seat during the NBA playoffs.
Competitive instinct takes over, Howard becomes another big body in a blue jersey.
"You have to have that switch at 7 o’clock, whatever time that game is," Raptors coach Sam Mitchell says. "That’s the thing I tell our players, we want you to be a nice guy off the court, but when you walk on that court, that switch has got to come on, and you have to become whoever you have to become to get the job done."
The Raptors’ opening-round Eastern Conference playoff series against the Orlando Magic just happened to pit Bosh against his friend and U.S. teammate Howard, but it’s hardly out of the ordinary in a league where players regularly cross paths in college and on the international court.
"You spend a lot of time off the court with guys, of course you’re going to become friends eventually," Bosh says.
Howard and the Magic can eliminate Bosh and the Raptors from the NBA playoffs Monday night in Florida. Orlando leads the series 3-1 heading into the contest.
Bosh and Howard had dinner together in Orlando after the Magic breezed to a 108-94 win over the Raptors in Game 1.
"I always hear stories about Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell being friends, and it was like a little ritual they had, they always ate dinner together the day before the game," Bosh says. "I always say, we’ll play, play hard, play to win, and after it’s over, it’s over.
"After the games, we have that respect for each other, and it’s over."
Not exactly the makings of a fierce rivalry, especially when you consider some of the famous rivalries of the past — Chicago versus Detroit in the early ’90s or the epic battles between the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics in the ’80s. Cheap-shot elbows and blatant displays of hatred were the norm.
Last season, one of the highlights of the playoffs had to be the Western Conference semifinal battle waged between Victoria’s Steve Nash and his Phoenix Suns and the San Antonio Spurs, with its lasting images of Nash taking a knee to the groin, Nash flying into the scorer’s table, Nash playing through a bloodied nose.
Toronto’s playoff appearance last season against New Jersey was fuelled with far more hostility, pitting the Raptors and their fans against arch-enemy Vince Carter. The Nets tossed more gas on the growing feud when they opted to wear their red jerseys at the Air Canada Centre, gleefully spoiling the Raptors’ red T-shirt promo.
Toronto fans did their best to pester Howard in this playoff series at the Air Canada Centre, but it’s not easy to muster much hostility for the talented Magic forward with the mega-watt smile. When the fans chanted `Howard!’ when the Orlando all-star shot his free throws, Bosh gestured the crowd to crank up the volume, but it seemed more in good fun.
Howard later raved about the atmosphere at the ACC.
"Even though they were going against me, just hearing all the fans yelling and cheering and rooting their team on was just an unbelievable feeling," Howard said after the Magic’s 106-94 win over Toronto in Game 4.
Mitchell says in any seven-game series though, hostilities heat up as the series goes on.
"Because you get tired of playing each other," says the coach. "Normally we’re used to playing different teams, and when you’re playing somebody and the series goes seven, you just get tired of seeing that guy.
"Because then you realize he kind of knows you, you kind of know him, and it just makes it tougher. No one wants that, a guy kind of knows what I want to do and I can’t do the things I normally do on a night in, night out basis."
Mitchell ran into Howard in the hallway at the ACC after Game 3 in Toronto, and jokingly said to him, "You’d better stop hitting my guys."
"He said, `Coach, Dwight’s a nice guy, Dwight doesn’t hit anybody. But Superman will knock the (crap) out of you,"’ Mitchell recounts laughing.
Asked how many Howard bruises Bosh has to show for this series, the Raptors captain says laughing, "Just as many C-Bosh bruises as he has."
And as for the fist bumps and hugs, Bosh says things aren’t always as they appear.
"Sometimes it’s an illusion," Bosh says laughing. "Don’t be fooled ."
