Norman Powell starting for Raptors, Patrick Patterson coming off bench
Toronto Raptors shooting guard Norman Powell will move into the starting lineup for Game 1 versus the Miami Heat on Tuesday, sending Patrick Patterson to the bench.
The Heat utilize a small-ball lineup with Luol Deng at the four, so the Raptors will slide DeMarre Carroll over to power forward. Powell only averaged 18.0 minutes per game in round one against the Indiana Pacers, but he should see a lot more minutes in this series. He's definitely earned them too. Patterson should still be the first big off the bench, but his minutes will likely take a small hit in this series. Luis Scola may not play at all.
Powell earned a 0.2 nERD this season, which ranked 78th in the league. He averaged 6.4 points and 2.4 rebounds with a 51.3 Effective Field Goal Percentage in the first round. Patterson averaged 8.7 points, 3.6 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 1.4 3-pointers per game in the first round of the playoffs while making 44.9 percent of his shots from the field. He ranked inside the top 100 with a -1.0 nERD during the season.
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