Desperate Raptors making excuses
Associated Press

Tracy McGrady
Has McGrady's contract situation affected the Raptors?
TORONTO -- Toronto Raptors coach Butch Carter is blaming contract issues for his team's 2-0 playoff deficit against the New York Knicks.

"The biggest advantage the Knicks have over us is that their top eight guys are all under contract and focused on winning. Winning is the only thing they think about," Carter said Thursday. "It's not the case here."

Three of the nine players Carter uses in his rotation will be free agents this year: Tracy McGrady, Dee Brown and Muggsy Bogues. The other six are signed through at least 2001-02.

"It affects the group. It just affects the group. I won't expand on it more," Carter said.

Asked if McGrady's impending free agency was a distraction, Carter said: "I don't think that. I think we've seen a 20-year-old show more maturity than most grown men."

Toronto general manager Glen Grunwald didn't know what to make of Carter's comments.

"The Knicks have a huge advantage right now because they're up 2-0," Grunwald said with a laugh. "That's what I would say."

Carter, meanwhile, criticized the media for not giving the 5-year-old Raptors enough credit. On Sunday, they'll become the first Canadian NBA team to play host to a playoff game.

"All year long, the milestones that have happened here have really been underscored by the media. There have been a bunch of milestones that have been accomplished, and I don't think we've seen a fair amount of attention paid to them," said Carter, who wouldn't say what milestones he was talking about, although the team did make the playoffs for the first time and won more than half its games for the first time.

The Raptors and Knicks both took Thursday off, and Carter said his team needed a break after a disheartening one-point loss Wednesday night.

"I think the Knicks are being allowed to push and bang us around, and it has taken its toll on my group," he said. "I'm glad we do have these days in between because they are physically banging the hell out of us."

Carter plans to go with the same starting lineup on Sunday. That means Bogues starts again at point guard instead of Doug Christie. The Raptors got out to the hoped-for quick start in Game 2 under the direction of Bogues.

Carter was grilled Thursday on Vince Carter's decision to pass the ball to an open Brown for the final shot of Wednesday's game. It was the only shot Brown took.

"I have no problems with the shot," the coach said. "We shouldn't have been in that situation. We missed too many free throws in the fourth quarter."

Latrell Sprewell gave the Knicks their first lead of the game since the second minute on a short jumper over Vince Carter's fingertips with 7.9 seconds to play, capping a 25-point night.

But don't look for the Raptors to double-team Sprewell on Sunday, because Carter doesn't want to give New York open 3-point shots.

"Sprewell has been there before and this is Vince's first time, and he's learning that he's going to be evaluated on both sides of the ball," the coach said. "During the course of the year, he has come up with big stops on people.

"He's playing a better player who is more experienced, and he has to grow and learn to do a better job."
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