(9)
About the only thing Jason Kapono does more quickly than get off a jump shot is get out of a locker room before the media hordes descend, but even he couldn't escape the spotlight last night.
With his teammates jokingly mocking him ("They got JK! They got JK!" was a chant heard from across the room), Kapono had to stick around long enough to explain his significant, but perhaps unexpected, contribution to the Raptors' 93-88 win over the Atlanta Hawks at the Air Canada Centre.
So instead of fleeing ("He must just run through the shower," was how one teammate described Kapono's ultra-quick departure last week), Kapono said his 16-point night was simply a matter of things finally working out.
"We put in a lot of sets to run guys off screens to get the wings involved because the wings have been down here the last week or two," said Kapono, who made six of 10 shots including two of four three-pointers and iced the game with two free throws with 16 seconds left.
Kapono, who logged 22 minutes and also dished out a pair of assists, was the beneficiary of some tweaking of the Toronto offence indeed. There was a bit more movement off screens as coach Sam Mitchell and his staff have been trying to find ways to make the sharpshooter a significant part of the offence.
"We're trying to run some sets for him and we keep telling him, he's got to shoot," said Mitchell. "We just keep reminding him that if his man's hands are down, he's open, he's that good of a shooter.
"He came out tonight aggressive and we needed that. AP (Anthony Parker) was working hard on Joe Johnson and we needed that other guy to come in and make some shots and that was Jason."
Kapono's biggest problem might be his patience, which is also one of his greatest virtues. He's not going to start firing up shots the second he gets on the court.
"I'm a catch-and-shoot player," he said. "I'm a guy that comes off screens or works off guys going one-on-one. I'm not the type of player who's going to go one-on-one and force shots. I'm a patient player if it's not there, then I'm not going to force it.
"I'm not going to go out there and go 3-for-16 just to say I took 16 shots. That's a pointless game to play."
If Kapono's contribution was a huge key to the win – iced when Atlanta's Marvin Williams passed up a three-pointer and then missed a runner in the lane with Toronto up three and less than 20 seconds left – so was the job Joey Graham did for the second straight game.
Graham finished with 11 points and five rebounds but his hustle at the start of the fourth quarter, a series that included two impressive dunks, energized the Raptors and allowed them to take control.
It was a group that included Graham, point guard Will Solomon, Kapono, Kris Humphries and Chris Bosh, who merely turned in a 30-point, 10-rebound, seven-assist gem.
"We just battled, we've got some guys nicked up and we just found a way to make some plays and hit some shots but the main thing is we got stops when we needed them," said Mitchell.
Kapono realizes the only way the Raptors are going to win consistently is with production off the bench.
"We've been down, guys are down and upset that we really haven't been playing well so it was big for the bench to come in and help the team win," he said.
"The bench is a key part of our team. That's something we have to concentrate on and bring each and every night."
