The Toronto Raptors say All-Star Guardian Kyle Lowry will be admitted to round two opener against Boston on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. ET after he sprained his ankle while opening the team’s series win a week ago Stepped on the foot of Brooklyn’s Chris Chiozza.
The Celtics are the only team to beat Toronto in the club’s 12 games during the NBA reboot.
Lowry practiced for the first time in three days on Saturday.
Toronto, with a 12-2 record without the six-time All-Star in the line-up, rallied to end their four-game run against Brooklyn. The bank hit an NBA record of 100 points on a 150:122 router on the networks on Aug. 23. The Raptors’ 150 points marked the best franchise.
CLOCK | Kyle Lowry leaves the series and wins against Nets:
Lowry appeared to be rolling his left ankle as he stepped on Chiozza’s foot, tried to continue playing briefly, but then jumped into the locker room at 2:48 in the first quarter at Walt Disney World near Orlando, Florida. He had two points and three assists in nine minutes.
In a breathtaking evolution, Raptors Lowry, VanVleet, Anunoby, Siakam and Gasol and Celtics will launch with Walker, Smart, Brown, Tatum and Theis
– –@ SmithRaps
“It would hurt a lot,” said Raptor’s head coach Nick Nurse at the time of the prospect of playing without Lowry. “You know how great he is for this whole thing. He is our most experienced and toughest leader we have.”
The Celtics took season series
Nurse noted that Lowry took on the remainder of the team’s historic championship run last season after injuring his left thumb ligament in Game 7 of the conference semifinals.
“It will take something pretty serious to keep him out,” the coach said recently.
Toronto face the Celtics for the first time in postseason history after Boston eliminated the Philadelphia 76ers in four games.
The Celtics won three of the four regular season meetings with the Raptors, including a 22-point win on Aug. 7 in the NBA bubble.
Boston is also ailing, and striker Gordon Hayward may be out for a month with a sprained right ankle. Shooters Javonte Green and point guard Tremont Waters will also reportedly not play on Sunday.
However, both teams have the option to distribute their ratings. Toronto is the first five-player team to have averaged 15 points per game since the Buffalo Braves 1973-74. Boston has three players averaging more than 20 points per game in Jayson Tatum, Kemba Walker and Jaylen Brown.
