Raptors Emerge Unscathed

Master Shake · Oct 15, 2008

"The Toronto Raptors are distinctly European in their makeup, with a roster heavy with players either born on that continent or who have at least played some of their professional career there.

Management has a focus beyond the narrow confines of the NBA as well, whether it's president Bryan Colangelo's suits or assistant general manager Maurizio Gherardini's background as a mover and shaker on the European scene.

But head coach Sam Mitchell? He's never really bought into it.

While he's got no objection to the European influence when it comes to clothes or food, his argument is he works in the NBA, so why get too carried away with the basketball world beyond?

He doesn't have European players, he says. He has NBA players.

So, needless to say, he wasn't too revved up last night about playing defending Euroleague champion CSKA Moscow, a club that forced the Raptors to grind hard for an 86-78 win at the Air Canada Centre to improve their preseason record to 3-1.

European teams play a different style, but Mitchell chose to largely ignore it, given the stakes.

"What are we going to do?" Mitchell asked before the game. "Change everything we do for one game that doesn't count on our record? It doesn't make sense."

The game unfolded as one might have predicted. The Russian club ran its shooters off countless screens, reversed the ball, and popped its big men out for jumper after jumper.
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Raptors Emerge Unscathed

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