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Tim BontempsESPN
Two days after the Toronto Raptors beat the Houston Rockets by several coaches – including head coach Nick Nurse – and star forward Pascal Siakam who was suspended due to NBA health and safety protocols, the Raptors postponed Sunday night’s game against the Chicago Bulls because they could not play the required eight players.
It is now unclear whether Toronto will be able to return to court before the All-Star Break begins next weekend. The Raptors will face the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday before traveling to Boston to play the Celtics in their final game before halftime.
There is currently no word on whether the Rockets game on Sunday night in Houston against the Memphis Grizzlies will have to be postponed due to what happens to the Raptors.
After the announcement about Nurse, his coaching staff and Siakam was not available for Friday’s game, Bobby Webster, general manager of Raptors, said that the NBA – which determines whether games will be played or not – has finally determined that the test program is strict . enough that it would be safe for the Raptors and Rockets to play.
“We talked to the NBA,” Webster said. “One way to think about it is that we are tested twice in the morning. If the tests are negative, give permission to participate in activities that day, and then you can do a test even later that day if you “I think that as soon as the negative tests came back this afternoon, I think it gave the NBA the consolation that we have it clear at least for today.”
And while the Raptors won on Friday with veteran assistant Sergio Scariolo serving as head coach for the first time in an NBA game – after a decorated European and international career, including coaching at Real Madrid and, more than a decade, leading the Spanish national team – it just seems clear for that match.
This will be the first test of the NBA’s effort to reach each team up to 72 games this season. The league last week announced its schedule for the second half of the season, one in which several teams in a small number of days tried to block many matches. In the case of the Grizzlies and San Antonio Spurs, they will play 40 games within 68 days.
Toronto, on the other hand, would play 36 games in 67 days. The number will now increase by at least one, and possibly as many as three. Although the NBA goal is to get each team to play its scheduled 72 games, sources said the league is aware that all thirty teams may not make it. There is limited flexibility within the schedule to add games, or to add dates on the calendar, as the NBA wants to have the playoffs completed in time before the scheduled start of the Olympics at the end of July.
From today, the league will hold a truncated All-Star weekend in Atlanta, bringing its Saturday night events (the skill challenge, 3-point game and slam dunk game) and the All-Star game all in one night in the face of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Meanwhile, the league has significantly tightened its health and safety protocols over the past few weeks to try to mitigate the spread of the virus. The outbreaks of the entire team have been appearing for several weeks now, but over the past two weeks the Spurs, Charlotte Hornets and now the Raptors have postponed several games due to the virus.