May 4, 2007

(TORONTO, CP) -- With their season in jeopardy and their point guards questionable, the Toronto Raptors need all-star forward Chris Bosh now more than ever.

On the eve of the Raptors' do-or-die game against the Nets at New Jersey, T.J. Ford skipped practice to see the doctor while Jose Calderon shot some hoops but could do little else. And Bosh was once again left to face questions about his performance in his playoff debut.

``It's very tough,'' Bosh said of the responsibility resting on his young shoulders. ``People have high expectations when they really don't know how the playoffs are. That's how it goes, I know that's part of the job and I know there's going to be constructive criticism all the time.

``I have a pretty thick skin so I don't worry too much about it.''

Ford suffered a stinger (a nerve injury) in his upper back in Tuesday's Game 5 win, while Calderon sprained his right ankle.

Chris Bosh will need to find a way to split the Jersey defence Friday night. (NBAE/Getty Images)

Asked about the status of his guards for Friday's game (The Score, 8 p.m. ET), Raptors coach Sam Mitchell would divulge nothing

``Not a clue,'' the coach said before his team boarded a flight to New Jersey. ``Whoever is healthy, that's who's going to play. No use in worrying about it. If they can play, they'll play. If they can't, we go on, move forward.''

The Raptors face elimination once again Friday, down 3-2 in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarter-final series. A Game 7, if necessary, would be held Sunday at the Air Canada Centre.

Bosh has been the team's undisputed leader all season long, lifting the Raptors to victory on countless occasions. But his play has been less than spectacular in the playoffs, and Mitchell called him out after Tuesday's game.

The coach defended his young player Thursday.

``Can Chris play better? Yes he can. He knows that. Do we need him to play better? Yes we do. But it's his first time around and he's 23 years old,'' Mitchell said.

``You should cut him some slack. He's earned that. This kid brings it every night, he's loyal to this organization and to this city and this country. You've never heard him once talk about leaving, you've never heard him cry about the lack of attention about playing in Toronto. Never.''

Bosh is averaging 16.4 points and 9.4 rebounds in the series, and foul trouble cost him significant time in two games.

Mitchell believes strong games from Andrea Bargnani and Morris Peterson would go a long way toward opening up the floor for Bosh. Both players started and played well in Tuesday's victory, Bargnani scoring 18 points and Peterson adding 17 points.

And having either Calderon or Ford on the floor would be a big boost to Bosh as well. The options otherwise are Darrick Martin, who's played sparingly this season, and Juan Dixon, who's never ran the Raptors offence.

Calderon seems more likely to play than Ford. The hard-working Spaniard had treatment on his ankle five times Wednesday, with similar plans for Thursday, and said there had been a noticeable improvement over 24 hours.

``We're going to see how I wake up (Friday), if I can do some work in the shootaround, we'll see how it's going,'' Calderon said. ``But from yesterday to now is better, and I can walk like almost no pain. The thing is, when I start running, we'll see how it's going (Friday).''

The Nets say they're not focusing on which Raptors are healthy.

``I don't really concern myself, we play whoever's in a jersey,'' Nets coach Lawrence Frank told reporters in New Jersey. ``They're a very talented team, they've had injuries over the course of the year and they've found a way. We have a high level of respect for every player on that team. We know that we have to play our best game to win.''

Bosh was asked what's the one thing the Raptors need to change for Game 6.

``That's easy. The start of the game,'' Bosh said. ``The team that has got off to a good start is the team that has always been in the best position in this series.''

The Raptors also have to overcome their New Jersey trepidation. Toronto suffered ugly losses in Games 3 and 4 at the inhospitable Continental Airlines Arena, and lost both their regular-season games there.

``Guys only remember the last game (a 98-96 Raptors victory), so we haven't even talked about what happened in New Jersey,'' Mitchell said. ``It's a new day, it's another game, we're just coming off a win where we had numerous people play well, so that should help their confidence.

``And we understand that if we lose the season is over.''

The Raptors decided not to stay in New Jersey on Thursday, moving back to Manhattan where they stayed in the regular season for games against the Nets and KNicks.

``I'm not superstitious or anything,'' Bosh said.

But asked if he would ever stay in New Jersey again, he quickly replied: ``No.''

Do the Raptors believe they can win in New Jersey?

``We have to, we have no choice really,'' said Bosh. ``We lose, that's it. We have to believe we can go in there and win, otherwise if we're having doubts, we've lost the game already.''

Stats at a Glance  at  News | Players | Stats | Schedule   News | Players | Stats | Schedule   Toronto Raptors - Regular Season Record: 47 - 35 ( .573) Standings: First, Atlantic At Home: 30 - 11 On Road: 17 - 24 Last 10: 7 - 3 Streak: L 2   New Jersey Nets - Regular Season Record: 41 - 41 ( .500) Standings: Second, Atlantic At Home: 24 - 17 On Road: 17 - 24 Last 10: 8 - 2 Streak: W 4   Playoffs PPG: 89.6 Opp PPG: 95.8 FG%: .433 Opp FG%: .455 RPG: 39.4 Opp RPG: 40.8 Regular Season PPG: 99.5 Opp PPG: 98.5 FG%: .463 Opp FG%: .463 RPG: 39.5 Opp RPG: 42.5 Last 5 Games (Reg. Season) PPG: 101.6 Opp PPG: 102.2 FG%: .459 Opp FG%: .481 RPG: 39.2 Opp RPG: 42.0 Last 10 Games (Reg. Season) PPG: 101.2 Opp PPG: 97.9 FG%: .453 Opp FG%: .473 RPG: 38.9 Opp RPG: 42.0   Playoffs PPG: 95.8 Opp PPG: 89.6 FG%: .455 Opp FG%: .433 RPG: 40.8 Opp RPG: 39.4 Regular Season PPG: 97.6 Opp PPG: 98.3 FG%: .457 Opp FG%: .450 RPG: 40.8 Opp RPG: 41.4 Last 5 Games (Reg. Season) PPG: 99.4 Opp PPG: 95.8 FG%: .456 Opp FG%: .453 RPG: 39.2 Opp RPG: 40.0 Last 10 Games (Reg. Season) PPG: 97.4 Opp PPG: 95.8 FG%: .454 Opp FG%: .443 RPG: 40.7 Opp RPG: 40.9  Back to Top   Playoff Stats Player G PPG RPG APG Bosh, C. 5 16.4 9.4 1.2 Parker, A. 5 15.8 6.2 0.6 Ford, T. 5 15.4 1.4 4.6 Calderon, J. 5 12.8 1.6 5.2 Bargnani, A. 5 9.8 3.4 1.0 Peterson, M. 5 6.4 3.8 0.4 Nesterovic, R. 5 3.4 4.6 0.6 Graham, J. 5 3.2 4.0 0.4 Dixon, J. 5 3.0 0.8 0.6 Jackson, L. 3 2.0 1.7 0.3 Humphries, K. 5 1.8 3.0 0.2 Martin, D. 2 1.0 0.5 1.0   Playoff Stats Player G PPG RPG APG Carter, V. 5 25.8 6.4 4.4 Jefferson, R. 5 21.0 5.0 2.4 Kidd, J. 5 13.2 10.4 12.8 Nachbar, B. 5 12.4 3.0 1.8 Moore, M. 5 7.2 6.2 0.8 Wright, A. 5 4.4 2.2 0.2 Boone, J. 5 4.0 2.4 0.2 Williams, M. 5 3.6 1.4 1.6 Collins, J. 5 3.2 3.4 0.2 Robinson, C. 1 3.0 0.0 0.0 Adams, H. 4 0.5 0.3 0.0 Robinson, B. 1 0.0 1.0 2.0   Regular Season Stats Player G PPG RPG APG Bosh, C. 69 22.6 10.7 2.5 Ford, T. 75 14.0 3.1 7.9 Parker, A. 73 12.4 3.9 2.1 Bargnani, A. 65 11.6 3.9 0.8 Dixon, J. 81 9.6 2.0 1.5 Peterson, M. 71 8.9 3.3 0.7 Calderon, J. 77 8.7 1.7 5.0 Garbajosa, J. 67 8.5 4.9 1.9 Graham, J. 79 6.4 3.1 0.6 Nesterovic, R. 80 6.2 4.5 0.9 Humphries, K. 60 3.8 3.1 0.3 Jackson, L. 13 3.7 0.8 1.0 Martin, D. 31 3.0 0.4 1.4 Slokar, U. 20 1.9 0.7 0.1 Sow, P. 7 1.4 1.6 0.3 Head Coach: Sam Mitchell   Regular Season Stats Player G PPG RPG APG Carter, V. 82 25.2 6.0 4.8 Krstic, N. 26 16.4 6.8 1.8 Jefferson, R. 55 16.3 4.4 2.7 Kidd, J. 80 13.0 8.2 9.2 Moore, M. 79 9.8 5.1 0.9 Nachbar, B. 76 9.2 3.3 0.8 House, E. 56 8.4 1.6 1.2 Williams, M. 79 6.8 2.1 3.3 Wright, A. 63 4.5 2.8 0.9 Boone, J. 61 4.2 2.9 0.2 Robinson, C. 50 4.1 2.4 1.0 Adams, H. 61 2.9 1.3 0.2 Collins, J. 80 2.1 4.0 0.6 Robinson, B. 31 2.0 1.5 0.6 Ilic, M. 5 0.0 0.2 0.0 Head Coach: Lawrence Frank Series Update Game, Date Home Vis Series Info. 1, Sat., Apr. 21 TOR, 91 NJN, 96 New Jersey 1-0 Box Score  Recap 2, Tue., Apr. 24 TOR, 89 NJN, 83 Series Tied 1-1 Box Score  Recap 3, Fri., Apr. 27 NJN, 102 TOR, 89 New Jersey 2-1 Box Score  Recap 4, Sun., Apr. 29 NJN, 102 TOR, 81 New Jersey 3-1 Box Score  Recap 5, Tue., May. 01 TOR, 98 NJN, 96 New Jersey 3-2 Box Score  Recap 6, Fri., May. 04 NJN TOR First Round 7, Sun., May. 06 TOR NJN if necessary Full Playoffs Schedule Tonight's Games Time (ET) Nat TV Game Notes   Toronto @ New Jersey 8:00 pm ESPN TOR NJN Preview Full Scoreboard Back to Top created: 05/04/2007 07:39 am