thestar.com

A year ago, the relatively few people who cared about basketball in Toronto would wonder why [Vince Carter] passed off to Dee Brown for the final shot. Today, a portion of the significantly more people who care will wonder if Carter missed the final shot of the season because he went to his college graduation 11 hours earlier. Like a 25-year-old in perfect health is going to get fatigued by a 65- minute flight in a private jet, then a short limo ride.

There will never be an answer that will satisfy those who will wonder. If Carter had stayed with his teammates, or done one of the popular NBA things stayed out late, gone to a dice game, done the horizontal mambo once or twice no one would know or wonder. And no one will ask where [Allen Iverson] 19 misses, eight makes spent his morning.

Both men, their gunsights off just a little, turned to other ways to help their teams. Iverson handed off 16 assists. Carter had nine assists (it felt like more) and zero turnovers. He also scooped seven rebounds and he found teammates wide open, particularly in the first half, for jumpers that would not fall.