To take home-court advantage from the Sixers and even their first-round series, the Raptors will likely need to overcome three significant absences Monday night.
The team listed Scottie Barnes (left ankle sprain), Gary Trent Jr. (non-COVID illness) and Thaddeus Young (left thumb hyperextension) as doubtful for Game 2 in Philadelphia. Young and Barnes both underwent MRIs Sunday, per the Raptors.
Barnes suffered his injury when Joel Embiid accidentally stepped on his foot early in the fourth quarter of the Sixers’ blowout Game 1 win on Saturday night. The 20-year-old forward was in serious pain and needed assistance to leave the floor.
“I hope he’s OK,” Danny Green said Sunday. “Obviously you don’t want to see anybody hurt. I’m praying for him and his family. But it’s part of the NBA; guys get hurt every day. Last year I got hurt. … It sucks. I hope he’s OK. When it’s all said and done, I will check on him.”
Green mentioned that, if Barnes was available to play, he assumed Toronto would put him on Tyrese Maxey. But, after Maxey scored 38 Game 1 points and went 6 for 6 from the floor (3 for 3 from three-point range) with 6-foot-1 Fred VanVleet as the primary defender on him, the Raptors almost certainly won’t have that option.
Barnes averaged 15.3 points, 7.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.1 steals this year, giving himself a shot at Rookie of the Year.
Sixers head coach Doc Rivers shared Tuesday that, with Ben Simmons’ situation uncertain, he was more involved than usual this summer in scouting NBA draft prospects. Barnes' Florida State tape impressed him.
“Because of the Ben thing last year, we did watch a lot of film on guys, and Scottie Barnes was one of them,” Rivers said. “And he was good on film, but he’s way better, unfortunately, in person. He’s a good player. If you saw Scottie Barnes and you didn’t know he was a rookie, you would swear he’s been in the league for 10 years.”
Trent played Saturday but didn’t look like himself, shooting 2 for 11 from the floor. In his first full season with the Raptors, he scored 18.3 points per game and shot 38.3 percent from long range.
The 33-year-old Young hurt his thumb in the second quarter and did not return.
Raptors head coach Nick Nurse told reporters Malachi Flynn and Armoni Brooks were among the players that might enter his Game 2 rotation.
The Sixers’ nine-player rotation should still be whole. Rookies Charles Bassey (out with a right shoulder sprain) and Jaden Springer (questionable with a right knee contusion) were the only players listed on the team’s injury report.