TORONTO — It's one step forward, one back when it comes to injuries for the Toronto Raptors.
All-star Scottie Barnes was upgraded to questionable by the Raptors on Wednesday after he participated in a full-contact practice at OVO Athletic Centre. Starting centre Jakob Poeltl, however, was ruled out for Thursday's game against the visiting Brooklyn Nets.
Barnes missed two games after spraining his right ankle after blocking a shot in a 113-108 loss to the New York Knicks on Dec. 9. As it turned out, the fall when he hurt his ankle was far worse than it looked.
"After those first two days, everything began to just calm down a little bit, started to feel a lot better," Barnes told media after practice. "I started to be able to walk on it more. So just day by day, it just started to feel better.
"It took a little bit of time, but I'm so happy that wasn't as serious as I thought it was."
Barnes is averaging 20.6 points, 8.4 rebounds and 7.4 assists over 14 games this season. Those numbers are better than last season when he had 19.9 points, 8.2 rebounds and 6.1 assists per game to earn his first-ever NBA All-Star Game appearance.
He's also a defensive force, with 1.3 steals and 0.7 blocks per game this season.
But injuries have plagued him over the past 12 months, including breaking his finger last season after a teammate accidentally kicked his hand and breaking an orbital bone after catching an errant elbow to his face earlier this campaign.
"Can’t do nothing about it, to be honest," said Barnes on the freak accidents. "You know, everything happens for a reason. I got hurt, so be it, take that time off and just come back and just got to learn from it."
Poeltl, forward Bruce Brown (post-surgery reconditioning) and guard Immanuel Quickley (partially torn UCL) are listed as out against the Nets.
Poeltl suffered a bilateral groin strain in the Raptors' 122-121 loss to the Chicago Bulls on Monday and is considered day-to-day. There is no timetable for Brown or Quickley's return.
"Jak is playing on really high level this whole season, it has to be a mentality of next man up. It has to be a collective effort," said head coach Darko Rajakovic. "It’s very hard to replace his offensive and defensive rebounding and his size and disruptiveness he has on the defensive end.
"Everybody else has to do a little bit more"
Kelly Olynyk of Kamloops, B.C., will be one of the players likely to receive more playing time in Poeltl's absence. The Canadian forward is still recovery from back spasms that kept him out of Toronto's lineup for the first 23 games of the season.
Olynyk said he's still trying to work himself into shape with just four games under his belt in the 2024-25 campaign.
"Trying to get back into the flow," said Olynyk. "Your body's not conditioned to play basketball after sitting out for six, seven weeks.
"But obviously the back a little bit, but just trying to get back into your rhythm and the flow of running up down the floor, playing full speed, full contact."
Poeltl has been exceptional for the Raptors this season, averaging 15.5 points, 11 rebounds and 2.7 assists over 26 games. His player efficiency rating — a stat that measure per-minute production — is well above average at 19.4.
Olynyk has 6.5 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.3 assists over his four games on limited minutes with a player efficiency rating of 15, the NBA's average score.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 18, 2024.
John Chidley-Hill, The Canadian Press
