Raptors begin busy March with loss to Grizzlies

TORONTO, March 2 (Xinhua) — The Toronto Raptors dropped the first of seventeen games in March with a 99-102 loss against the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday night.

Raptors guard Jose Calderon missed a game-tying three-pointer that would have extended the game for the 11-25 Raptors.

Coming off a light February schedule which consisted of thirteen games, including one game during a ten-day span, March features six back-to-backs for Raptors, twice as many as those in February. In addition, eleven of the matches will be against teams with a winning percentage of 0.500 or better.

The month also features the trade deadline on March 15. With little playoff hopes, the Raptors will be looking to move expiring contracts to contending teams to improve the team’s position for the future. With potential players moving, Raptors head coach Dwane Casey will have an even more difficult time to bond with his players.

Casey believes that due to the inability to communicate with players during lockout, he has not gotten to know his players as well as he’d like to on a personal level.

“Summer is a better time to do that, there is a lot of frustration, fatigue, games coming up, playing time, there’s so many things that get in the way of get to know a player on a personal level… You don’t get to know them as well as you do if you had a summer to go spend with them… It’s more conducive to building a solid relationship,” said Casey during his pre-game media conference with local reporters.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/sports/2012-03/03/c_131444011.htm