The Toronto Raptors suffered more than just an ugly Game 1 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. Aside from their 131-111 drubbing, Raptors star rookie Scottie Barnes had to be helped off the floor after hurting his ankle late in the loss. X-rays on his left ankle taken after the game were negative, but Barnes has a sprained ankle and will not play in Game 2, Raptors head coach Nick Nurse confirmed on Monday. Barnes is currently in a walking boot.
With a little over nine minutes remaining, and the Raptors trailing by 18 points, Barnes came over to provide some help defense on Joel Embiid. As the big man passed the ball, he stepped and landed right on Barnes' left ankle, which rolled under the heavy pressure.
Scottie Barnes with 15-10-8 and this looks bad. Embiid steps right on the ankle pic.twitter.com/52XLHQh8ui
— Jason McIntyre (@jasonrmcintyre) April 17, 2022
Barnes immediately collapsed to the ground and grabbed for his foot. He appeared to be in serious pain and was grimacing while the Raptors' medical staff attended to him. After a few minutes they got him up on his feet and he was helped off the floor by a few teammates. Barnes was putting minimal weight, if any, on his ankle as he left the court.
An MRI Sunday revealed the injury wasn't more severe than a sprain. It appears he avoided a serious problem, but Barnes' availability for the remainder of the series will clearly be impacted.
Naturally, Barnes' teammates were not happy to see him go down as Pascal Siakam noted how hard the rookie had played this season and how excited he was to contribute to the team's success in the playoffs.
"It's tough, man," Siakam said. "Again, obviously, he works extremely hard and he's been playing awesome this season and I know he was super excited about the playoffs and wanted to be there and play. So, yeah, man, we'll see. Obviously, we hope to have him next game. But yeah, it's definitely tough to see him go down and I know that he was hurting because he wanted to be out there with us."
Despite being a rookie, Barnes quickly emerged as one of the team's best players due to his size, defense and versatility. He does a little bit of everything for them, and had 15 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists in his first career playoff game before getting hurt.
Also doubtful for Game 2 are Raptors' Thaddeus Young (left thumb hyperextension) and Gary Trent Jr. (not-COVID illness).
