Raptors Shadow Team To Play Against Detroit Pistons
A depleted Toronto Raptors team will host the Detroit Pistons Wednesday night after they had two games postponed this week.
Due to Covid-19 protocol they will be without three starters, as well as head coach Nick Nurse. Assistant coach Sergio Scariolo will continue to assume head coaching duties in his absence.
Fred VanVleet, Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby will all miss the game due to Covid-19 safety regulations.Â
VanVleet and Siakam lead scoring for the Raptors this season with 20.1 points per game each. Anunoby is averaging 13.8 points per game.
Forward Malachi Flynn and guard Patrick McCaw are also unavailable.Â
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“We will try to do our best for the guys who won’t be able to be with us tomorrow,” said Scariolo.
The Toronto Raptors have returned ‘multiple days of no new cases’, according to general manager Bobby Webster. As a result, the missing stars should be able to return for Thursday’s game against Boston.
“It’s been a tough couple of days,” Webster said. “To get to here and be able to practice, we had to clear a number of hurdles.
“It’s what you can imagine. It’s the emotional stress of having colleagues that potentially, obviously, can be sick. The enormous amount of stress everyone feels, everyone’s walking a bit on eggshells here in the locker room and you can’t necessarily be as friendly. … The basketball will go on, we’ll play the games, but just to maintain everybody’s belonging and familiarity is really important.”
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The postponed Raptors games brought the total number of rescheduled NBA games this season to 31. The schedule is getting tight now, with some teams having to play 40 games in 60 days in order to complete the season.
