TORONTO – Fred VanVleet scored 31 points and nine assists in his first game back from COVID-19 protocols to lead the Toronto Raptors to a 116-108 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday.
OG Anunoby added 26 points at a Scotiabank Arena with virtually no spectators due to Ontario’s strict COVID-19 restrictions. Pascal Siakam scored 25 points and tied a career-high 19 rebounds for Toronto (15-17), in what would normally have been a festive New Year’s Eve event.
Marcus Morris had 20 points to beat the Clippers (18-18), who were missing head coach Tyronn Lue; became the seventh head coach to enter COVID-19 protocols early Friday.
Chris Boucher and Svi Mykhailiuk are the only Raptors to have avoided COVID protocols, and with the team now finally back in almost full strength on Friday, the Raptors were optimistic.
They ran to a 15-point lead, but a pair of sloppy quarters on the defensive end and a poor three-point shot saw them trailing 87-82 to start the fourth.
They regained the lead early in the quarter with a 12-4 run punctuated by a dunk and a triple by Anunoby.
Siakam’s dunk with 1:34 to play saw Toronto win 109-105, Terance Mann connected from long range to make it a one-point game, then VanVleet hit consecutive triples to put the game out of reach with 24 seconds left. .
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With no fans present except for a few dozen family members, the game is reminiscent of the 2020 NBA bubble in Florida. The Ontario government announced Thursday that it was cutting audience capacity from the 50 percent that went into effect two games earlier, to just 1,000 people due to the soaring increase in COVID-19 cases in the province.
Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd., went further, announcing that they would not sell tickets to the Raptors or Maple Leafs games for three weeks starting Friday.
The massive 19,800-seat arena became an almost appropriate backdrop to bid farewell to 2021, another bizarre year in the COVID-19 sports era.
When asked if playing in front of any fans would be weird, Brian Shaw, who replaced Lue, said: “I don’t think anything is weird anymore.”
National anthems were broadcast on video and canned applause was heard throughout the match. There was a video tribute for former Raptor Serge Ibaka that was met with silence. Brilliant “Happy New Year!” Messages flickered on the Jumbotron. The fourth quarter began with a prompt for fans to “MAKE A NOISE!”
The Raptors are at least used to curveballs. Border restrictions and capacity limits in Toronto last season forced them to call Tampa, Florida, home, where they played many games in front of a handful of fans.
“We had to prepare to play in a lot of different places,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said before the game. “The main thing to keep in mind or at the forefront is that we are going to go out and play.
“I mean, listen, you think about it … you get disappointed when you hear the news, everyone probably wishes it wasn’t like that, but it’s like that and you have to move on.”
The Raptors got off to a great start, but the Clippers had a 16-4 streak that spanned both sides of the first and second quarters, closing in on 32-29 to end the first and take the lead early in the second.
Poor defense and terrible 3-point shots saw Toronto outscored 33-24 in the second quarter and LA entered at halftime with a 62-56 lead.
VanVleet scored 11 points in the third, including a layup that tied the game with 3:41 left in the fourth.
Scottie Barnes missed the game with knee tendonitis. The Raptors still have Isaac Bonga, plus Hardship signers DJ Wilson, Daniel Oturu and Juwan Morgan on the protocols.
The Clippers have four players sidelined due to protocols, including center Ivica Zubac, who entered protocols Thursday.
The NBA had about 120 players in health and safety protocols on Friday.
About 97 percent of NBA players are doubly vaccinated, and at least two-thirds of players have received boosters.
The Raptors host New York on Sunday and San Antonio on Tuesday to crown their four-game home run.
This Canadian Press report was first published on December 31, 2021.
© 2021 The Canadian Press
Reference-globalnews.ca