Conner fills in as Pacers host Raptors

By Conrad Brunner | Feb. 2, 2010

For the first time in three seasons, however, they'll have a different look on the bench tonight when they host the Toronto Raptors. With Jim O'Brien out of town attending a family funeral, assistant Lester Conner will take over.

The challenge for Conner and the Pacers will be finding a way to stop Toronto's red-hot offense. The Raptors racked up 117 points in a 15-point victory over the Pacers in Toronto on Sunday, shooting 60.2 percent from the field in the process.

The Raptors (26-22) have won five in a row and have scored at least 100 points in 13 straight, a franchise record. Toronto has averaged 67.3 points on 60.3 percent shooting (79-of-131) in the first halves of three games against the Pacers.

"They have size but also their size is skilled," said Troy Murphy. "They have guys who can shoot threes. (Andrea) Bargnani and (Hedo) Turkolglu are big guys who shoot threes and spread the floor and that is what makes them tough. "

Turkoglu will miss tonight's game with a non-displaced fracture of the right orbital bone (around the eye), an injury that occurred when he collided with Mike Dunleavy in the opening minutes Sunday. So will guard DeMar Derozan (sprained ankle).

Sonny Weems replaced DeRozan in the starting lineup and scored a career-high 13, while Antoine Wright picked up minutes in Turkoglu's absence and scored a season-high 15.

This is the second time in eight days the Pacers will have faced the same team in consecutive games (they split with Philadelphia on Jan. 23 and 25).

"It’s almost playoff atmosphere," said Raptors Coach Jay Triano. "We don’t have to go back and watch any other games right now. We are going to watch this one, dissect this one and the Pacers are going to do the same. …

"They are going to do the same, find counters to the things and this is a tough thing to do. With them being such a tough team to guard, with their bigs or their guards outside we just have to try and find a way to get a little bit better at it (Monday) and watch film and get ready to go to Indiana and see if we can find a way to win a game there. We had our troubles there last time (a 105-101 Indiana victory on Jan. 11) because of the way they play, they push the ball and they shoot threes. Our bigs are doing what they are supposed to do and they run back and protect the basket, and the guy they are suppose to have is out at the 3-point line. It’s just erasing good habits that are made for other teams in getting ready to play this team."

The Pacers (16-32) have used various small lineups in the last four games, dropping the last three. Chris Bosh proved a matchup nightmare for Danny Granger Sunday with 26 points, 15 rebounds and seven assists. Granger scored eight points on 3-of-13 shooting and has averaged 11.7 points on 13-of-44 shooting (.295) in the last three games while starting at power forward.

"He has given us problems in the past," said Murphy. "We went small and tried to put Danny (on Bosh), we put Roy (Hibbert) on him at times and he is just a heck of a matchup. He takes big guys outside and posts up little guys. He is a great player."

Bosh has produced at least 24 points and 15 rebounds in the last three games, and leads the NBA with 29 games of at least 20 points and 10 rebounds.