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Durant situation casts cloud over Raptors’ impressive win over Nets – Sportsnet.ca

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4 years ago

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There was a very entertaining basketball game going on between the Toronto Raptors and Brooklyn Nets on Friday when all of a sudden it became secondary.

Nets star Kevin Durant left the game and then left the floor midway through the third quarter, not to return.

The reason? Health and safety protocols, which is 2020-21 NBA-speak for either a positive COVID test, an inconclusive test or that Durant was identified as being at risk due to contact tracing.

All of which was doubly strange since Durant was escorted off the floor during pre-game warmups at Barclays Center because even though both of his game-day tests had been clear, there was a question that he may have been in close contact with someone with a positive or inconclusive test. He came off the bench for the first time in his 14-year career, taking the floor again midway through the first quarter.

Why Durant was not cleared, cleared and then ruled out isn’t known, but it tossed a wet blanket over the game, which Toronto won 123-117.

It also introduced a cloud over the immediate future of both teams. If Durant wasn’t safe to play, what impact did he have on his team and the Raptors during the 19 minutes he was out there? And can those questions be answered in time for the Raptors to be cleared to travel to Atlanta after the game for their matchup against the Hawks on Saturday night?

In game where the Nets stars had top billing, it was the Raptors’ big names that ended up dominating. Lowry was the engine that drove a 13-5 fourth-quarter run that was the key to Toronto getting over the top. He finished with a season-high 30 points on 18 shots, including 6-of-9 from three, while adding seven assists. He had plenty of support from Pascal Siakam, who took advantage of the Nets’ lack of interior presence to put up 33 points and 11 rebounds for a season-high of his own.

Meanwhile, it was a Fred VanVleet three – his first of the game after his record-setting 54-point night on Tuesday — with 1:46 left that put Toronto up six and left them in good position down the final possessions of the game. With the win – the Raptors’ third straight — Toronto improved to 10-12 and moved to within a half-game of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

The Raptors shot 50.5 per cent from the floor and 13-of-32 from three but limited themselves to 10 turnovers.

The Nets shot 49 per cent from the floor and 17-of-42 from three but turned the ball over 18 times and didn’t have any of their big guns score more than 17 points, with Joe Harris leading the way with 19.

Apart from the strangeness around Durant, the game unfolded somewhat as advertised, and it was as entertaining as might have been expected.

Even with just 19 minutes from Durant, the Nets were still able to put up points in bunches, and for all the defensive emphasis the Raptors like to bring to the floor, they needed to score to keep up. Their offence did its part as Toronto was able to take a 92-90 lead into the fourth quarter and was able to keep up with the Nets down the stretch. Heading into the fourth, the Nets were shooting 53 per cent from the floor and 13-of-31 from deep, granted, but the Raptors forced 15 turnovers to score 18 points and shot 50 per cent from the floor while shooting 9-of-20 on their own threes.

The Nets can get what they want, it seems, but they give it up, too.

For the most part it hasn’t hurt them all that much. Before hosting the Raptors the Nets were 7-3 since the Jan. 16 trade that brought Harden over from Houston, even while giving up 118.2 points per 100 possessions. Scoring 121 points per 100 possessions will do that for a team, and Brooklyn is just getting started.

“We still have a long way to go,” head coach Steve Nash said before the game. “But for an early review I mean it’s been really positive and just the fact how willing they are to share and to root for one another and, you know, that’s the foundations of something special.

“Now we have to put in the hard work and learn from our mistakes and create a vision that becomes more and more clear and simple as we go along to produce it the way we want to but you know the building blocks are there.”

But the defence?

“It’s still early for this group, but we know that is an Achilles heel,” said Nash. “That’s something that has to be a priority for us.”

Maybe, maybe not.

While other teams have to manufacture offence, the Nets seemingly score at will. It’s not just that Irving and Durant are both scoring upwards of 28 points a game, averaging 50 per cent from the floor, 40 per cent from three and 90 per cent from the free-throw line, or that Harden has averaged a league-leading 12 assists a game with Brooklyn while scoring 24 points a game himself. It’s that Harris is shooting 49 per cent from three and DeAndre Jordan is shooting 81 per cent from the floor, feasting on putbacks and lobs against scrambled defences.

But what choice is there but to send additional defenders against the Nets’ big scorers?

“If you don’t help, then you’re not gonna stop ’em,” said Raptors head coach Nick Nurse. “They’ve got three guys that can’t be guarded one-on-one. So you’ve gotta help. You’ve gotta trust your help and your rotations, and you’ve gotta do it. We gotta not get caught up in thinking that you can’t help. You have to guard the ball hard and you have to be in your help positions and if somebody goes by you, then the rotations start, and you’ve gotta be really good at ’em. Really good.”

The Raptors were all of that in the first quarter, as they held the Nets to 23 points and forced six turnovers, which the Raptors turned into 11 points, mostly in transition as they led by nine. But the Nets’ full arsenal was on display in a six-minute stretch during the second quarter when Brooklyn scored 28 points as it fought back from a 17-point deficit to cut the Raptors’ lead to a point.

For the quarter, the Nets scored 40 points on 65 per cent shooting, including 7-of-10 from deep with 12 assists on 13 made field goals. Put another way, the Raptors scored 33 points while shooting 58 per cent and 5-of-8 from three and lost ground.

Regardless of your allegiance, it was fun to watch. It seemed like every time the Nets came down on offence, there was another leak in the Raptors’ defensive shell. If Harden wasn’t stepping into a three from the top of the arc, he was breaking down the defence and finding Jordan for lob dunks. Irving was quiet until he turned on a dime to attack, draw and lob to Jordan again.

Toronto led 67-63 at half, but had been put on notice. The Raptors rose to the challenge, though. They stayed committed to their defensive effort and made just enough plays down the stretch to keep the Nets mostly contained – though Brooklyn missing Durant probably contributed to that.

What that means for the Raptors in the coming days is uncertain.

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Washington Capitals 3-2 win ends Dallas Stars’ winning streak

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12 hours ago

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October 18, 2024

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Tom Wilson, Dylan Strome and Taylor Raddysh scored to help the Washington Capitals end the Dallas Stars’ season-opening winning streak at four with a 3-2 victory Thursday night.

Wilson’s goal was his third in three games, Strome his second of the season and Raddysh his first since joining the team in free agency last summer. Charlie Lindgren made 22 saves as the Capitals wrapped up this early homestand with back-to-back wins.

The Stars fell from the ranks of the league’s unbeaten teams despite a short-handed goal by Colin Blackwell and one at even strength from Jason Robertson. Rookie Oskar Bäck set up Blackwell for his first NHL point.

Casey DeSmith was screened on two of the three goals he allowed on 26 shots.

LIGHTNING 4, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 3

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Nikita Kucherov scored the winning goal with less than a minute to play just 1:27 after Brandon Hagel had tied it and Tampa Bay rallied to beat Vegas.

Kucherov’s second goal of the game with 55 seconds left was his sixth of the season.

Janis Moser had a goal and two assists for the Lightning, who remain unbeaten. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 22 saves.

Brayden McNabb, Pavel Dorofeyev and Ivan Barbashev had goals for Vegas. Adin Hill turned aside 21 shots.

Jack Eichel, with two assists on Thursday, now has 10 points this season in five games and reached reached double-digit points faster than any other player in Vegas history. He is the 10th U.S.-born player to accomplish the feat.

After Barbashev put Vegas up 3-2 early in the second, Hagel pulled Tampa Bay even at 3 with 2:22 remaining in the third.

BLUE JACKETS 6, SABRES 4

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Kirill Marchenko and Mathieu Olivier each had a goal and an assist and Daniil Tarasov made 21 saves to help Columbus to a win over Buffalo.

Yegor Chinakhov, Adam Fantilli, Zachary Aston-Reese and Damon Severson also scored for Columbus, and Zach Werenski added two assists.

Ryan McLeod, Owen Power and JJ Peterka scored for Buffalo, and Jiri Kulich added his first NHL goal. Devon Lev stopped 19 shots for the Sabres (1-5-1), who have lost two straight road games and five of their first six overall.

CANUCKS 3, FLORIDA 2, OT

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — J.T. Miller scored 2:09 into overtime and Vancouver got their first win of the season, beating Florida.

Teddy Blueger and Quinn Hughes had goals for Vancouver, with Kevin Lankinen stopping 26 shots.

Anton Lundell got his fourth goal in the last three games for Florida and Jesper Boqvist also scored for the Panthers, who got 30 saves from Sergei Bobrovsky.

Florida remained without forwards Aleksander Barkov (lower body) and Matthew Tkachuk (illness).

DEVILS 3, SENATORS 1

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Jacob Markstrom stopped 30 shots and lost his shutout bid in the final minutes as New Jersey beat Ottawa.

Erik Haula, Nathan Bastian and Paul Cotter scored for the Devils, who won for the third time in four games and improved to 5-2-0.

The Senators, who were coming off an 8-7 overtime victory against Los Angeles on Monday, struggled to beat Markstrom.

Brady Tkachuk was the only scorer for the Senators, beating Markstrom, with a power-play goal with 65 seconds remaining in the third period.

Anton Forsberg, making his second straight start and hoping to rebound after getting pulled Monday, made 32 saves in the loss.

Haula opened the scoring early in the second period and Bastian added a short-handed goal, giving New Jersey a 2-0 lead after 40 minutes. Cotter scored midway through the third.

RANGERS 5, RED WING 2

DETROIT (AP) — Artemi Panarin had his eighth career hat trick and New York rolled to a victory over Detroit.

Panarin became the first Rangers player to have multiple points in the first four games of a season. He scored twice on the power play. Vincent Trocheck also had a power- play goal and assisted on all of Panarin’s goals.

Jonathan Quick made 29 saves in his season debut. Victor Mancini also scored.

The Rangers have won the last five meetings, including twice this week. New York had a 4-1 home victory over Detroit on Monday night.

Moritz Seider and J.T. Compher scored for Detroit. Red Wings goalie Cam Talbot was pulled in the second period after allowing five goals.

KINGS 4, CANADIENS 1

MONTREAL (AP) — David Rittich made 26 saves a night after being benched in the second period in Toronto, helping road-weary Los Angeles snap a three-game losing streak with a victory over Montreal.

Los Angeles improved to 2-1-2 on a season-opening, seven-game trip necessitated by arena renovations.

Rittich rebounded after allowing four goals on 14 shots in a 6-2 loss to the Maple Leafs. Alex Laferriere, Mikey Anderson, Andreas Englund and Adrian Kempe scored.

Justin Barron scored for Montreal (2-3-0). Sam Montembeault stopped 28 shots. He made a save on Kevin Fiala on a penalty shot.

BLUES 1, ISLANDERS 0, OT

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Joel Hofer made 34 saves and assisted on Jake Neighbours’ goal at 2:04 of overtime in St. Louis victory over New York.

Hofer had his second career shutout in his and the team’s second overtime victory of the season.

Philip Broberg carried the puck into the New York zone and made a centering pass to Neighbours for the winner.

Islanders goalie Ilya Sorkin made 29 saves.

Blues defenseman Nick Leddy sat out because of a lower-body injury, the first game he has missed this season. Leddy played in all 82 games last season.

OILERS 4, PREDATORS 2

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Brett Kulak scored twice and Connor McDavid added his first goal of the season to lead Edmonton to a victory over reeling Nashville.

Jeff Skinner also scored and Calvin Pickard made 25 saves for the defending Western Conference champion Oilers, who have won consecutive games after beginning the season with a three-game skid.

Filip Forsberg and Jonathan Marchessault scored and Juuse Saros made 32 saves for Nashville (0-4).

Forsberg’s goal midway through the first period gave Nashville its first lead of the season. That lasted less than six minutes before Kulak tied it.

Kulak sealed it with an empty-netter in the final minute for the defenseman’s first career two-goal game.

BLACKHAWKS 4, SHARKS 2

CHICAGO (AP) — Tyler Bertuzzi and Nick Foligno each scored a power-play goal, and Chicago beat San Jose.

Taylor Hall and Jason Dickinson also scored for Chicago. Connor Bedard and Teuvo Teravainen each had two assists.

Hall, who missed most of last season because of right knee surgery, put the Blackhawks in front 4:20 into the first period. It was Hall’s first goal since Nov. 5 and No. 267 for his career.

Tyler Toffoli and Fabian Zetterlund scored for San Jose, which trailed 3-0 early in the second. William Eklund and Mikael Granlund had two assists each.

The Sharks dropped to 0-2-2 under Ryan Warsofsky, who was promoted to head coach in June.

Petr Mrazek had 20 saves for Chicago, and Vitek Vanecek made 23 stops for San Jose.

KRAKEN 6, FLYERS 4

SEATTLE (AP) — Eeli Tolvanen, Jordan Eberle, and Shane Wright scored three goals in less than three minutes in the second period and Seattle held off a Philadelphia rally in a victory.

Tolvanen’s goal broke a 2-2 tie at the 14:57 mark. Eberle made it a two-goal game with a goal at 17:44. Eight seconds later, Wright scored to give Seattle a three-goal lead.

Jared McCann tied the game at 2-2 with the first of Seattle’s four second-period goals.

Cam York and Jamie Drysdale scored to pull Philadelphia within 5-4 in the third period, but Oliver Bjorkstrand responded with a goal to push Seattle’s lead to two with just over five minutes left in the game.

Scott Laughton scored twice for the Flyers in the first period, while Brandon Montour scored one in for the Kraken.

Chandler Stephenson had an assist in his 500th NHL game. Seattle’s Philipp Grubauer had 21 saves.

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Canada’s Dabrowski, New Zealand’s Routliffe out of Japan Women’s Open after walkover

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22 hours ago

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October 17, 2024

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OSAKA, Japan – Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe are out of the Japan Women’s Open tennis tournament.

Spain’s Cristina Bucsa and Romania’s Monica Niculescu advanced to the final on Thursday by way of walkover.

The fourth seeds were supposed to play the top-seeded Dabrowski and Routliffe in the semifinals.

Bucsa and Niculescu will next face third-seeded Ena Shibahara of Japan and Laura Siegemund of Germany in the final.

Dabrowski and Routliffe defeated Japan’s Shuko Aoyama and Eri Hozumi in the quarterfinals 6-2, 6-4 on Wednesday to advance.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Mountain West commissioner says she’s heartbroken over turmoil surrounding San Jose State volleyball

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22 hours ago

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October 17, 2024

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LAS VEGAS (AP) — Mountain West Conference Commissioner Gloria Nevarez said Thursday the forfeitures that volleyball teams are willing to take to avoid playing San Jose State is “not what we celebrate in college athletics” and that she is heartbroken over what has transpired this season surrounding the Spartans and their opponents.

Four teams have canceled games against San Jose State: Boise State, Southern Utah, Utah State and Wyoming, with none of the schools explicitly saying why they were forfeiting.

A group of Nevada players issued a statement saying they will not take the floor when the Wolf Pack are scheduled to host the Spartans on Oct. 26. They cited their “right to safety and fair competition,” though their school reaffirmed Thursday that the match is still planned and that state law bars forfeiture “for reasons related to gender identity or expression.”

All those schools, except Southern Utah, are in the Mountain West. New Mexico, also in the MWC, went ahead with its home match on Thursday night, which was won by the Spartans, 3-1, the team’s first victory since Sept. 24.

“It breaks my heart because they’re human beings, young people, student-athletes on both sides of this issue that are getting a lot of national negative attention,” Nevarez said in an interview with The Associated Press at Mountain West basketball media days. “It just doesn’t feel right to me.”

Republican governors of Idaho, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming have made public statements in support of the cancellations, citing a need for fairness in women’s sports. Former President Donald Trump, the GOP nominee in this year’s presidential race, this week referenced an unidentified volleyball match when he was asked during a Fox News town hall about transgender athletes in women’s sports.

“I saw the slam, it was a slam. I never saw a ball hit so hard, hit the girl in the head,” Trump replied before he was asked what can be done. “You just ban it. The president bans it. You just don’t let it happen.”

After Trump’s comment, San Diego State issued a statement that said “it has been incorrectly reported that an San Diego State University student-athlete was hit in the face with a volleyball during match play with San Jose State University. The ball bounced off the shoulder of the student-athlete, and the athlete was uninjured and did not miss a play.”

San Jose State has not made any direct comments about the politicians’ “fairness” references, and Nevarez did not go into details.

“I’m learning a lot about the issue,” Nevarez said. “I don’t know a lot of the language yet or the science or the understanding nationally of how this issue plays out. The external influences are so far on either side. We have an election year. It’s political, so, yeah, it feels like a no-win based on all the external pressure.”

The cancellations could mean some teams will not qualify for the conference tournament Nov. 27-30 in Las Vegas, where the top six schools are slated to compete for the league championship.

“The student-athlete (in question) meets the eligibility standard, so if a team does not play them, it’s a forfeit, meaning they take a loss,” Nevarez said.

Ahead of the Oct. 26 match in Reno. Nevada released a statement acknowledging that “a majority of the Wolf Pack women’s volleyball team” had decided to forfeit against San Jose State. The school said only the university can take that step but any player who decides not to play would face no punishment.

___

AP college sports:

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