Raptors’ "warrior" Antonio Davis battles injuries

By Shawn Krest

The Toronto Raptors continue to lose the battle against injuries, leading to still more losses on the court. A six-game November losing streak gave way to four losses in five games at the start of December. Vince Carter returned from a lengthy absence, only to re-injure his knee in practice. He will be sidelined up to a month.

Perhaps the most costly injury has been to Antonio Davis. While Carter may be the Raptors’ most talented player, Davis is the team’s backbone. He is a strong, often cranky locker room voice, saying what needs to be said, unpleasant as it may be. In addition, he leads by example on the court. He has played out of his normal power forward position, banging bodies with bigger, stronger centers, for the better part of the last two seasons. "Antonio is our warrior," says Morris Peterson.

To a man, the team looks to Davis for leadership and motivation. Carter’s response to what must be a record-breaking spate of injuries was to bemoan the team’s bad luck. "It must be something in the water around here," said Vince, "because we can’t stay healthy."

Davis’ reaction to the problem was a little different. "We’re being tested right now," he said, as much to teammates as to the media. "We’re going to continue to fight. If we carry that attitude with us for the remainder of the season, we can be a pretty good team. We can overcome a lot of things if we play hard and together. The one thing we’re going to have to learn to do is play a little fatigued. There’s going to be times where guys have to play a lot of minutes because we’ve got guys injured."

Davis also had a short-lived return from injury. After missing four games early in the season, he left an early-December game against Chicago after suffering knee pain. An MRI was inconclusive due to swelling in the knee. "It’s funny," says Davis. "Last December 3, I was in the same doctor’s office, getting an MRI on my left knee."

Despite the fact that Davis is undersized for his position, he leaves a big hole for Coach Lenny Wilkens to fill. "AD is one guy who can give us points inside, and he’s smart too," says Wilkens. "There are lots of little things he does on defense that don’t show up in the box score. Those things are really important to us. Hopefully we can overcome some of that stuff, but certainly not having him makes a difference."

The difference was clear in the first few games that Davis missed. Chicago outscored Toronto 62-26 in the paint, the game that Davis went down. Two days later, Portland also outscored them by thirty inside. "It’s tough to have (Davis’) scoring, his presence, and his rebounding absent," says Carter. "It’s important for us to pull together. Everybody has to step up there game another level…until he gets back."

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