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Raptors’ reserves might not be a Bench Mob yet, but they’ve been a pleasant surprise

It is the unpredictability that makes it fun, the not knowing what’s going to happen when the Raptors trot out one of their seldom-used groups, teammates who not so long ago were relative strangers. That somehow makes them oddly effective.

It’s like what former Detroit Pistons coach Alvin Gentry once said of his young team, paraphrased: “We don’t know what we’re doing out there but that makes us hard to scout.”

Toronto’s Fred VanVleet hit much the same chord on Friday when he was discussing the team’s current bunch of backups, who have been tremendous in staving off any problems as the team deals with a rash of injuries.