THE CANADIAN PRESS
TORONTO — The European portion of the Toronto Raptors’ pre-season officially came to an end Wednesday, and head coach Sam Mitchell isn’t exactly sad to see it done.
T.J. Ford had 13 points and 11 assists to lead the Raptors 105-99 over Lithuanian team Zalgiris Kaunas on Wednesday. The game was Toronto’s first back home since their 13-day trip overseas as part of NBA Europe Live, and third against a European squad.
Mitchell said playing overseas teams presents a no-win situation.
"It’s tough because a lot of these teams don’t play like NBA teams play and so, how much do we adjust what we’ve been working on to try to win the basketball game?" Mitchell said before the game. "For two-and-a-half weeks we’ve been working on certain things to prepare for our season… a gameplan for NBA teams. We’re trying to get ready for the big picture."
The Raptors beat Roma Lottomatica 93-87, then lost 104-103 to Real Madrid.
Jason Kapono, taking his turn starting at small forward — one of the starting spots still to be determined — finished with 13 points. Rasho Nesterovic, Jose Calderon, Kris Humphries, and Juan Dixon added 12 points apiece for Toronto, which improved to 2-2 in the pre-season.
Raptors all-star forward Chris Bosh sat out his second straight game with a sore left knee, and is questionable for Friday’s game against the Chicago Bulls.
Ford’s performance was impressive, coming in just 24 minutes of action. He had just two turnovers.
"He ran the team, he may have made one bad decision, there was no point putting him back in the game (in the fourth quarter), I had seen enough from T.J.," Mitchell said.
Ford said he has no problem playing European teams. If anything, it makes communication all the more important.
"It’s still basketball, just a different style," Ford said. "When you go scrimmage against a team you’ve never played before, now you have to communicate a lot more because you’re not familiar with those types of players.
"I love basketball, I just want to play," he added. "It doesn’t matter who we play against, but now that we’re done this European style of play, now it’s back to the NBA, back to the Xs and Os."
The Raptors led for most of the night, and took a 79-77 advantage into the fourth quarter. Zalgiris rallied in the fourth, and six straight points by DeJuan Collins put them up 99-96 with just over three minutes left in front of an Air Canada Centre crowd dotted with Lithuanian flags.
But four straight points by Carlos Delfino put the Raptors up 100-99 with 2:25 left and they didn’t trail again, narrowly avoiding their second loss this season to a European opponent..
"We didn’t play all that great but we came out with a win," said Kapono. "We were just trying to find our niche, trying to find our rhythm and that’s why we have two more weeks."
The Raptors shot a decent 42 per cent on the night, and outrebounded Zalgiris 47-43.
Jonas Maciulis scored 24 points, while Collins added 16 for Zalgiris, which is owned by former Portland Trail Blazers forward Arvydas Sabonis and is coming off its 14th Lithuanian league title in the past 17 seasons.
"The Euroleague I believe is very strong, and very comparable to the NBA simply because the teams in Europe are allowed to do a lot more physical contact and things like that," said Tanoka Beard, who had 13 points for Zalgiris.
The Raptors led for all of the first half, shooting 50 per cent from the field in the first quarter to lead 30-21 heading into the second.
Humphries had seven rebounds in the second quarter to provide some spark off the bench, as the Raptors stretched their lead to 13 points. But Zalgiris rallied to cut Toronto’s advantage to 53-48 at halftime.
A three-pointer by Maciulis put Zalgiris up 63-62 early in the third, the visitors’ first lead of the game. Calderon’s layup with eight seconds left in the quarter put Toronto ahead 79-77 to end the frame.
The Raptors play the remainder of their pre-season at home, with games Friday versus the Bulls, Oct. 26 against Cleveland and Oct. 27 against Washington. They host the Philadelphia 76ers in their regular-season opener Oct. 31.
NOTES: A loss would have been Toronto’s third to a European team in franchise history– they were defeated by Israeli powerhouse Maccabi Tel Aviv in 2005… Zalgiris lost 107-88 to the Golden State Warriors on Monday.
