PHOENIX Alvin Williams almost chuckled at what he was seeing.
There was Scottie Barnes, freshly anointed as the Raptors’ starting point guard in the absence of Fred VanVleet and Malachi Flynn in Cleveland last Sunday. But before he could call a play or run a set or get his team organized, he had to jump at centre to begin the game.
“He’s like Magic Johnson,” Williams joked on the game telecast, a good Philadelphia lad hearkening back to the 1980 NBA Finals when the Lakers’ rookie point guard played some centre to replace the injured Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in Game 6 at the old Spectrum.