The Toronto Raptors have thrived all season despite a revolving door of injured players, and their depth shone once again in Sunday night’s record-breaking rout of Brooklyn.
But the Raptors want Kyle Lowry on the floor when they face the Boston Celtics on Thursday.
“It would hurt us a lot,” coach Nick Nurse said of the possibility of playing without Lowry. “You guys know how big a cog he is to this whole thing. He’s our most experienced, toughest leader we got.”
Lowry was diagnosed with a left ankle sprain Monday after undergoing an MRI. The six-time all-star suffered the injury when he stepped on the foot of Chris Chiozza late in the first quarter of Sunday’s 150-122 series-clinching victory over the Nets.
The Raptors said they would update Lowry’s status when appropriate; for now, he’s a question mark ahead of Toronto’s second-round series against Boston that tips off on Thursday.
A sprain sounds more positive than Nurse’s suggestion Sunday night that Lowry injured the arch of his foot. But depending on the severity, sprains can take anywhere from days to weeks to heal.
Boston is missing Gordon Hayward who suffered a right ankle sprain in Game 1 against Philadelphia. Hayward left the bubble to continue his rehab and is expected to be out for at least the entire second round.
Dallas superstar Luka Doncic, on the other hand, sprained his ankle in Game 3 against the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday, but bounced back with a spectacular game Sunday, recording 43 points, 17 rebounds and 13 assists. Doncic hit the long step-back jumper at the buzzer to lead the Mavericks to a 135-133 overtime win.
Lowry sprained an ankle in the 2017 playoffs and sat out Games 3 and 4 of a four-game sweep by Cleveland in the conference semifinals.
The 34-year-old played through a serious hand injury, however, in last year’s historic championship run. Lowry damaged ligaments in his left thumb in the conference semis but didn’t miss a game. He was forced to wear a compression glove resembling a huge oven mitt while not playing, and underwent surgery soon after the season ended.
“I would imagine this: It’s going to be a helluva injury to keep him off the floor,” Nurse said. “It’s not going to be a little thing, he’s going to try to figure it out.”
While the Celtics, who won three of four meetings against Toronto this season, are expected to be a considerably tougher opponent than Brooklyn, particularly if Lowry’s not in the lineup, the Raptors have dealt with adversity all season.
The Raptors lost NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard in the off-season. Their 219 man games lost to injury, before the restart in Florida, was fifth worst in the league. Each of their top five scorers missed at least 10 games. Lowry missed 14, and the team went 12-2 in his absence.
Their motto has been: next man up. And the bench stepped up in record fashion Sunday, scoring 100 points, the most in any game since those stats began being tracked in the 1970-71. Toronto’s 150 points was a franchise record.
Norman Powell, who led the way with 29 points, said playing without Lowry would be “tough.”
“He’s our leader. He’s our focal point when we are out there, on and off the court,” Powell said. “Hopefully, with these days off, he’s able to recover and get back out there and play because we are going to need him. But it’s like we always say: It’s going to be next man up with everyone pulling for one another.”
While the Raptors (53-19) and Celtics (48-24), who were ousted by Milwaukee in five games in last year’s conference semifinals, know each other well, they’ve never met in the post-season.
“It is a little surprising we’ve never bumped into each other this whole run,” Nurse said. “They’re super–talented, they’re deep, they’re very well coached, they’re playing great at the moment. They put away a very talented Philly team with ease (in a four-game sweep).”
Toronto’s one loss since the restart was a 122-100 rout by Boston on Aug. 7.
“We know (the Celtics) are a great team,” said Raptors big man Serge Ibaka. “They don’t get a lot of talk but they are a great team . . . they play hard, and they play as a team. They have a good bench, so we need to come in and play basketball, man.”
Boston won three of four meetings against the Raptors in the regular season, including a victory in Toronto on Christmas. The Raptors avenged that loss in Boston three days later.
“I think it’s going to be fun,” Powell said about facing Boston. “It’s always back and forth. They beat us and then we come back at them. We are evenly matched teams. It’s going to be about the guys who can play harder, who can limit their mistakes and then go out there and execute. I’m kind of bummed that we are not going to have the fans down there at TD Garden or what our fans bring at Scotiabank (Arena). . . that is an added element that is going to be missed.”
Lowry averaged 19.4 points, a team-high 7.5 assists and five rebounds through 58 games with Toronto this season. Through the first round of the playoffs, he posted averages of 12.5 points, 4.8 assists and 7.0 rebounds and scored in double figures three times, including 21 points in Game 2 of the opening-round series.
Semifinal games will be held every second day with Game 2 going on Saturday.
Montreal Alouettes wide receiver Tyson Philpot has announced he will be out for the rest of the CFL season.
The Delta, B.C., native posted the news on his Instagram page Thursday.
“To Be Continued. Shoutout my team, the fans of the CFL and the whole city of Montreal! I can’t wait to be back healthy and write this next chapter in 2025,” the statement read.
Philpot, 24, injured his foot in a 33-23 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Aug. 10 and was placed on the six-game injured list the next week.
The six-foot-one, 195-pound receiver had 58 receptions, 779 yards and five touchdowns in nine games for the league-leading Alouettes in his third season.
Philpot scored the game-winning touchdown in Montreal’s Grey Cup win last season to punctuate a six-reception, 63-yard performance.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
NAPA, Calif. (AP) — David Lipsky shot a 7-under 65 on Thursday at Silverado Country Club to take a one-stroke lead after the first round of the Procore Championship.
Winless in 104 events since joining the PGA Tour in 2022, Lipsky went out with the early groups and had eight birdies with one bogey to kick off the FedEx Cup Fall series at the picturesque course in the heart of Napa Valley wine country.
After missing the cut in his three previous tournaments, Lipsky flew from Las Vegas to Arizona to reunite with his college coach at Northwestern to get his focus back. He also spent time playing with some of the Northwestern players, which helped him relax.
“Just being around those guys and seeing how carefree they are, not knowing what’s coming for them yet, it’s sort of nice to see that,” Lipsky said. “I was almost energized by their youthfulness.”
Patton Kizzire and Mark Hubbard were a stroke back. Kizzire started on the back nine and made a late run with three consecutive birdies to move into a tie for first. A bogey on No. 8 dropped him back.
“There was a lot of good stuff out there today,” Kizzire said. “I stayed patient and just went through my routines and played well, one shot at a time. I’ve really bee working hard on my mental game and I think that allowed me to rinse and repeat and reset and keep playing.”
Mark Hubbard was at 67. He had nine birdies but fell off the pace with a bogey and triple bogey on back-to-back holes.
Kevin Dougherty also was in the group at 67. He had two eagles and ended his afternoon by holing out from 41 yards on the 383-yard, par-4 18th.
Defending champion Sahith Theegala had to scramble for much of his round of 69.
Wyndham Clark, who won the U.S. Open in 2023 and the AT&T at Pebble Beach in February, had a 70.
Max Homa shot 71. The two-time tournament champion and a captain’s pick for the President’s Cup in two weeks had two birdies and overcame a bogey on the par-4 first.
Stewart Cink, the 2020 winner, also opened with a 71. He won The Ally Challenge last month for his first PGA Tour Champions title.
Three players from the Presidents Cup International team had mix results. Min Woo Lee shot 68, Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., 69 and Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., 73. International team captain Mike Weir of Brights Grove, Ont., also had a 69.
Ben Silverman of Thornhill, Ont., had a 68, Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., and Roger Sloan of Merritt, B.C., shot 70 and Adam Svensson of Surrey, B.C., had a 71.
Lipsky was a little shaky off the tee for much of the afternoon but made up for it with steady iron play that left him in great shape on the greens. He had one-putts on 11 holes and was in position for a bigger day but left five putts short.
Lipsky’s only real problem came on the par-4 ninth when his approach sailed into a bunker just shy of the green. He bounced back nicely with five birdies on his back nine. After missing a 19-foot putt for birdie on No. 17, Lipsky ended his day with a 12-foot par putt.
That was a big change from last year when Lipsky tied for 30th at Silverado when he drove the ball well but had uneven success on the greens.
“Sometimes you have to realize golf can be fun, and I think I sort of forgot that along the way as I’m grinding it out,” Lipsky said. “You’ve got to put things in perspective, take a step back. Sort of did that and it seems like it’s working out.”
Laird stayed close after beginning his day with a bogey on the par-4 10th. The Scot got out of the sand nicely but pushed his par putt past the hole.
Homa continued to have issues off the tee and missed birdie putts on his final four holes.
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic is moving on to the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open.
The Mississauga, Ont., native defeated the tournament top seed, Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) in the round of 16 on Thursday.
Stakusic faced a 0-4 deficit in the third and final set before marching back into the match.
The 19-year-old won five of the next six games to even it up before exchanging games to force a tiebreaker, where Stakusic took complete control to win the match.
Stakusic had five aces with 17 double faults in the three-hour, four-minute match.
However, she converted eight of her 18 break-point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
