TORONTO – In the 25-plus season history of the Toronto Raptors, there has never been a night quite like the one the team experienced on Friday, and there’s a good chance we’ll see more nights like it in the coming days.
About five-and-a-half hours before Toronto tipped off against the Houston Rockets, the team issued a press release stating that “due to health and safety protocols, six members of the Raptors’ coaching staff, including head coach Nick Nurse, will not be on the bench.”
According to Sportsnet’s Michael Grange, one member of Toronto’s coaching staff tested positive for COVID-19 leading to the five others to be put into health and safety protocols through contact tracing.
Additionally, Raptors star forward Pascal Siakam then popped up on the 5:30 p.m. ET NBA injury report, saying he would miss Friday’s game, also in health and safety protocols.
So, the Raptors came into Friday night’s game down its bench boss, five assistants and without their leading scorer.
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And while they fortunately saw the Rockets, who came into Friday’s matchup having lost nine straight games, that’s still a lot of key personnel for any NBA team be without and still be expected to be successful.
Thankfully, the Raptors aren’t just any NBA team.
A club renowned for its scouting and player development, as it turns out, the Raptors have some real talent among their coaching staff as well.
Down six coaches, the Raptors were unable to field a full bench and so it was up to Jim Sann, Mark Tyndale, Jamaal Magloire and acting head coach Sergio Scariolo to turn the right dials and push the correct buttons, and they did an outstanding job of it. Toronto managed to come away with an 122-111 victory on Friday night, climbing back to .500 and improving to 17-17.
Though that’s only a four-man unit on the bench, there’s a wealth of experience and knowledge on it, particularly with acting head coach Scariolo, who is a legendary European club and international coach. Fortunately, Scariolo made it out of quarantine after attending his own head coaching duties with the Spanish national team just in time for Friday’s emergency situation.
“I just joked with him that the last team he coached he was out in Poland and I said you should be ready for this,” said Raptors GM Bobby Webster, who updated the media of the odd situation his team faced before the game started.
More than just being ready for this opportunity in unique conditions, Scariolo flourished. He not only picked up his first head coaching win as an NBA coach (although the credit will go to Nurse officially), but he even won his first coaching challenge in the game — a fact he’ll be able to lord over Nurse when he eventually returns to the bench. It took Nurse eight attempts before he got his first challenge victory.
“When we hired him we obviously wanted the international experience,” Webster added about Scariolo. “Coach Nurse comes from that background, Masai has a ton, I value a lot of that as well, so initially it was just, ‘Hey, help us think about the NBA in a different way.’ But I think what we’ve grown to appreciate more about him, as you probably know, he’s very even-keel, incredible ability to see the game, make adjustments, not outspoken.
“He very much knows his role and so I think that’s what we’re excited to see now in the head coaching role.”
After just one game the returns have been good for Scariolo, an encouraging sign for Toronto moving forward because odds are Toronto’s depleted bench situation will continue for the next few games or so as Nurse and the five others work their way through the NBA’s protocol rules.
Fortunately, according to Grange, it looks like Siakam could be available for the Raptors in their next game on Sunday.
Regardless of that bit of good news, however, being without your head coach and a handful of key assistants would make the next few games challenging.
That can be alleviated, though, by Scariolo’s experience and expertise, and because the Raptors have coaches on the floor in players like Kyle Lowry.
When word first broke that the Raptors would be without a sizeable amount of their coaching staff, a joke went around Twitter that Lowry could be a player-coach. Unfortunately because of a rule within the CBA, this fun idea isn’t allowed, but that didn’t stop him from being one in spirit by leading the team with his play.
Lowry finished Friday with a triple-double of 20 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists and appeared to understand the situation his team was facing and stepped up accordingly.
In particular, this was seen in the fourth quarter, when early in the frame he picked up his fifth foul of the evening, allowing Houston to cut into a lead as large as 23 down to six. However, as soon as the Raptors point guard checked back in with 4:17 to play, Toronto ended up going on a 13-8 run to close the game and put it to bed.
Lowry finished the game a plus-22.
This was yet another strong performance from Lowry – who had 24 points and seven assists on 9-for-13 shooting against the Miami Heat on Wednesday – after returning from a four-day layoff with a thumb injury.
Lowry is a player who, historically, has managed to raise the level of his game when the Raptors have needed it. With the team possibly looking at a period of time without its general and five lieutenants, now seems like one of those times for Lowry to raise his game with the club about to hit the All-Star break next week.
Though it’s come in an odd way, the Raptors are facing their first real COVID-19 crisis of the season, but if Friday’s game is any indication – even if it was against the lowly Rockets – Toronto has the necessary leadership and experience both on and off the court to weather the storm.
