James Johnson injury leaves Raptors thin at small forward

PHOENIX — Toronto is now down its top two small forwards.
James Johnson hopped into the Raptors locker room on Tuesday evening, still on the crutches he left the arena in Denver with the night before after hurting his ankle against the Nuggets.
Johnson, who has done an admirable job replacing DeMarre Carroll, who underwent knee surgery last month and is still expected to be weeks away from a return, had an MRI on Tuesday and the team was awaiting results.
The team has also been without starting centre Jonas Valanciunas for an extended period this season and DeMar DeRozan seems frustrated by the injury bug.
“Man, we’re just going to have to do it,” DeRozan said of making due without both Carroll and Johnson.
“It’s tough, it sucks, everybody hates injuries, but we’ve just got to get out there and do it, just finish off these next couple of games strong, go into the all-star break and let guys get a chance to heal up,” he said with a resigned laugh.
Carroll’s advice?
“I told JJ to just come back. It’s a process, we really need him he’s one of those guys kind of like myself who do the intangible things that doesn’t get the recognition,” Carroll said.
“I felt like he was key for all this team in our run, it hurt us for him to go down but it’s a great opportunity for some of the young guys we’ve got.”
Rookie Norman Powell made his first NBA start in place of Johnson in Toronto’s win over Phoenix, picking up a couple of steals an assist and a rebound, but no points.
- Ryan Wolstat