Toronto Raptors forward Pascal Siakam was ruled out for Friday’s game against the Houston Rockets, along with head coach Nick Nurse and five assistant coaches. Jeff Chiu/Associated Press
TAMPA, Fla. — Norman Powell scored 30 points, Kyle Lowry had a triple-double and the depleted Toronto Raptors beat the Houston Rockets 122-111 on Friday night.
The Raptors were without head coach Nick Norse, five assistant coaches and starting forward Pascal Siakam in accordance with the NBA’s health and safety protocols regarding the coronavirus. Assistant coach Sergio Scariolo directed the team. He had been away from the Raptors while coaching Spain in FIBA’s EuroBasket 2022 qualifiers and just cleared quarantine Friday.
Scariolo has extensive experience as a head coach, winning championships of leagues in Italy, Spain and Russia. He has been Spain’s national coach – helping that team win medals at the 2012 London Games and 2016 Rio de Janiero Olympics and the Basketball World Cup title in 2019.
Siakam was listed as out about two hours before the game, indicating that he either has a testing issue or a contact tracing issue. He played Wednesday night in Miami in the Raptors’ loss to the Heat.
Lowry had 20 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists to help the Raptors hand the Rockets their 10th straight loss. Fred VanVleet added 25 points, making 5 of 11 3-pointers. Lowry was 4 of 5 from long range, and Powell 4 of 8.
Victor Oladipo led the Rockets with 27 points, and John Wall had 21 points and 12 assists.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said options were considered, such as not playing the game.
“Anytime we have a positive case, we go through extensive contact tracing, player by player, team staff member by team staff member, and then that independent group makes that decision as to whether the game should go on,” Silver said.
Silver added that group “was comfortable with the game going on.”
The NBA has postponed 29 games this season because of virus-related issues, though this is the first time that a team has said its coaching staff would be unable to be at a game because of the protocols.
Coaches, like players, are tested daily for coronavirus. There are a number of reasons why someone would enter the NBA protocols, including a positive test, a presumed positive test or contact tracing data suggesting that they may have been exposed to a person who is positive for COVID-19.
HEAT 124, JAZZ 116: Jimmy Butler scored a season-high 33 points, reserve Goran Dragic tied his season-best with 26 and Miami dealt visiting Utah just its third loss in 25 games.
Bam Adebayo scored 19 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for Miami, which has won a season-best five straight games.
Donovan Mitchell scored 30 for the Jazz.
SUNS 106, BULLS 97: Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton each scored 22 points and Phoenix rallied for a win at Chicago.
CLIPPERS 119, GRIZZLIES 99: Kawhi Leonard scored 30 points, and Los Angeles split a two-game series in Memphis.
KINGS 110, PISTONS 107: De’Aaron Fox scored 27 points and Sacramento snapped a nine-game losing streak with a victory at Detroit.
THUNDER 118, HAWKS 109: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 24 points, and Oklahoma City beat visiting Atlanta after changing uniforms at halftime because a mix-up left the teams wearing similar colors.
The Thunder began the game wearing their sunset orange uniforms while the Hawks wore red, making it difficult to distinguish between the teams.
Oklahoma City said in a statement that the Hawks wore the incorrect uniform color. The team said the league should have caught the error, but because the Hawks only brought red uniforms on their trip, the Thunder changed to white for the second half.
NOTES
ALL-STAR GAME: Kevin Durant will be out through the All-Star break because of a hamstring injury, sidelining the Brooklyn Nets star from a game for which he was chosen to serve as a captain.
Indiana’s Domantas Sabonis was chosen by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver to replace Durant, with Boston’s Jayson Tatum elevated to the pool of starters for the March 7 game in Atlanta.
G-LEAGUE: Jeremy Lin shared on social media that he experienced an act of racism on the court while playing for Golden State’s team in the G League.
Golden State Coach Steve Kerr said he will support Lin and denounced any discriminatory act that caused Lin to speak out about racism targeting Asian Americans.
Copy the Story LinkComments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
