Toronto Raptors forward Pascal Siakam, center, scores a field goal against the Brooklyn Nets defense during the first half of Game 4 of their NBA first-round playoff series, Sunday, August 23, 2020, in Lake Buena Vista, Florida .
The Canadian press
On Sunday, the Toronto Raptors completed their first playoffs in club history and earned an Eastern Conference semifinal with the Boston Celtics. But they also saw Kyle Lowry limping off the ground injured.
The Raptors, seeded No. 2, defeated the Brooklyn Nets No. 7 150-122 to finish their series best of seven in the first round 4-0. However, the status of their all-star point guard is unknown after he left the game with what originally looked like an ankle injury.
The alarming moment came just nine minutes later, when Lowry rolled his left ankle in a creepy way as he stood at the foot of Brooklyn’s Chris Chiozza as he dribbled through traffic. Lowry slid to the ground in pain, stood up and limped for a few seconds of play before pulling himself out and cautiously returning to the locker room.
Lowry did not return to the game. He left the building to get medical imaging elsewhere on the NBA campus. It is not clear when he will be able to return to the track for the reigning champions. Coach Nick Nurse said after the game that Lowry had an MRI on the arch of his foot.
“It will be nice to all have a couple of days out of the way to regain energy and find out what’s going on with our leader Kyle,” said Nurse.
Norman Powell set a post-season franchise record 29 points off the bench to lead Toronto to victory. Serge Ibaka scored 27 points with 15 rebounds, while Pascal Siakam scored 20 with 10 record assists. The Raps got a staggering 100 points off their bench, which sets a new NBA record.
After Lowry left the game, the Raps called rookie Terence Davis to fill Lowry’s ball management duties and run on the pitch for the rest of the first half as VanVleet sat down with three fouls. Davis went to a 14-point night. The team had 39 monstrous assists even without Lowry.
“Well, I’m not going to be very comfortable without Kyle out there, I’ll tell you,” Nurse said when asked how he’d feel if Lowry was out for a while. “Someone has to take shots and play defense, play hard and do the things they do and make up for it. Or we do it in commission, it’s probably a better way. “
With his reserves playing hot, Toronto manager Nick Nurse also leaned on Ibaka, Powell and Matt Thomas, and they veered to a 77-68 lead at half time.
VanVleet started the second half with Powell as his backcourt mate. VanVleet had nine points despite only having to play under 19 minutes.
Caris LeVert had her best game of the series for Brooklyn – scoring 35 points – but it wasn’t enough to help the Nets contend.
The sweep came a day after Nurse was named NBA Coach of the Year. His high school coach Wayne Chandlee delivered the news to Nurse with a surprise video during a live interview that the Raps manager was doing with the NBA on TNT. Then Lowry and VanVleet popped up next to Nurse for another surprise: to give him the Red Auerbach Trophy. The Toronto coach said he enjoyed a flood of good wishes from people on Saturday and that all that emotional excitement had him so tired he fell asleep at 9:30 pm.
The nurse won the award by a huge margin, receiving 90 first place votes from a jury of 100 sports journalists and broadcasters, and finished with 470 points. Milwaukee manager Mike Budenholzer finished second in the voting (147 points) and Oklahoma City’s Billy Donovan (134 points) finished third.
It was an opportunity to reflect on the many countries and leagues in which he has coached basketball in his life, from small universities to Europe and the NBA development league.
“I figured if I ever got a chance to become a head coach, a lot of the things I’ve tried in some of those stagnant places that I thought might still work,” Nurse said.
The coach admitted before the game that being able to sweep was a new feeling for him. He reminded the press that his Raptors often got tough on themselves in last year’s playoffs
Before the Raptors took the floor, they knew that the # 3 seeded Celtics had swept away the # 6 Philadelphia 76ers last Sunday.
The Raptors and the Celtics have never met before in the postseason. Toronto was 1-3 against Boston during the regular season.
“It will be a good series. I’m a little sorry we won’t have fans over there at TD Garden or the one our fans bring to Scotiabank, ”Powell said. “We are two teams that are very deep and very talented and they will want us all on our side to bring this out.”
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