Raptors lose to Knicks 113-108

The Toronto Raptors’ damage woes by no means appear to finish.

All-star ahead Scottie Barnes sprained his proper ankle within the third quarter of Toronto’s 113-108 loss to the New York Knicks on Monday, leaving the sport after simply 23 minutes of taking part in time. It’s the newest in an extended string of accidents for the Raptors, who’ve but to play a sport this season with their optimum beginning lineup.

Head coach Darko Rajakovic isn’t questioning his staff’s luck, nonetheless.

“I by no means ask that query myself,” mentioned Rajakovic after the sport. “When accidents occur, these kind of accidents, they’re out of my management.

“I’m not questioning something there. We’re going to undergo it. We’re going to stroll the stroll.”

Barnes, Toronto’s solely all-star final season, needed to be helped off the court docket with 6:47 left within the third because the Raptors held a 73-68 lead. He clutched at his ankle and writhed in ache beneath the basket after blocking a Karl-Anthony Cities shot and touchdown on the Knicks ahead’s foot.

Barnes had 15 factors, 5 rebounds and three assists earlier than happening. He and RJ Barrett of Mississauga, Ont., had mixed for 15 factors within the third alone earlier than Barnes’s damage.

“It was a tricky blow. We had been taking part in so properly, particularly with Scottie on the ground,” mentioned Barrett, who led all scorers with 30 factors. “I believe on the finish of the day, it was a detailed sport on the finish.

“We had an opportunity there. It was a hard-fought sport. These are those you would like you get to win. However I believe we performed fairly properly general.”

Rajakovic mentioned that X-rays on Barnes’s ankle got here again detrimental and he could be re-evaluated on Tuesday.

“It’s at all times powerful if you see certainly one of your teammates get damage, particularly a participant that has (Barnes’s) affect for us,” mentioned rookie Ja’Kobe Walter, who had a career-high 19 factors off the bench. “However I believe it’s simply subsequent man up.

“All of us understood that we nonetheless received to battle as a result of there’s nonetheless a sport to be performed, however at all times after all need to be taking part in.”

Cities made a brief layup with 36 seconds to play then drilled a 29-foot three-pointer with six seconds left on the clock to present New York the win.

Cities completed with a double-double, scoring 24 factors and flattening 15 rebounds for New York (15-9) in a detailed sport that was tied 13 occasions and had 19 lead modifications.

Jakob Poeltl had a double-double with 14 rebounds and 10 factors as Toronto (7-18) completed its five-game homestand with a 2-3 document.

Barnes, Barrett, and level guard Immanuel Quickley are supposed to be the core of Toronto’s beginning lineup however they haven’t been on the court docket collectively for 47 consecutive video games, courting again to the 2023-24 marketing campaign when Barnes had season-ending surgical procedure to restore a fracture to the third metacarpal in his left hand.

Quickley has solely performed in three video games this season.

He missed 9 with a pelvic contusion after a tough fall within the Raptors residence opener, performed two video games, after which partially tore the ulnar collateral ligament in his left elbow. Rajakovic mentioned pre-game that he anticipated extra imaging could be achieved on Quickley’s elbow this week.

Backup centre Kelly Olynyk of Kamloops, B.C., solely made his return to Toronto’s lineup on Saturday after lacking the primary 21 video games of the season.

Walter, the Raptors’ nineteenth general choose in final summer season’s draft, didn’t make his NBA debut till Nov. 1 after he sprained his shoulder earlier than the pre-season started. He missed 9 extra video games when he re-aggravated it.

Barrett sprained his shoulder in the same means within the first exhibition sport of Toronto’s pre-season, solely returning on Oct. 28 after lacking the primary three video games of the season.

“Clearly, at first 12 months, we had lots of people out, together with myself,” mentioned Walter. “All of us belief one another sufficient to be within the sport and simply be at liberty.

“I believe simply regardless that individuals are getting damage, we nonetheless work.”

This isn’t even Barnes’s first damage of the season. He missed 11 video games from Oct. 30 to Nov. 18 with a fractured orbital bone after taking an errant elbow to the face.

UP NEXT

Knicks: Host the Atlanta Hawks (13-12) on Wednesday.

Raptors: Journey to Miami tackle the Warmth (12-10) on Thursday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first revealed Dec. 9, 2024.