Several times, he hit the floor and came up cradling his left arm with a look of severe pain on his face. Thus unencumbered, Mutombo scored 13 points and had 17 rebounds, including seven on the offensive boards. If I'm on the ground and they throw him the ball, that's putting too much pressure on my teammates. It's not a cop-out, but if the refs aren't going to call it, then I have to play behind him. In addition, if his painful left arm affects his righthanded shooting stroke at all, Davis will not be as big a threat to pop the medium-range jumpers that punish Mutombo for never leaving the basket area.
Medical science is a wonderful thing, however.
It can't get George Lynch back on the court for the Sixers in this series, but the Raptors have done everything to keep Davis in the games. His reward is another tussle with Mutombo, something that Davis lost on Sunday, but will apparently have a chance to reverse tonight. But that's no excuse for not coming out and playing the way we knew we had to play.