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Nothing Feels the Same As Raptors Enter New Wave of the Pandemic With Victory over Warriors

The Toronto Raptors topped the Steph Curry-less Golden State Warriors on a night without Pascal Siakam due to COVID-19 protocols

Aaron Rose

John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports

Nearly 12,000 seats sat empty in Scotiabank Arena on Saturday night.

This is what it's come to. The Toronto Raptors' once special home-court advantage has evaporated, forced underground, and into isolation by a 50% capacity restriction from the provincial government as COVID-19 cases reach highs not seen in six months. T-shirts from the T-shirt cannon zipped around the arena only to ricochet off empty seats. The screeching of basketball shoes was only sometimes drowned out by the same blaring music that masked the eery absence of fans.

"Tonight was really, really, strange, oh my god," Precious Achiuwa said. "Tonight being a night where it was half-capacity it was so weird because every time I’ve stepped in this building, every time we’ve played here, it’s always been electrifying, it’s packed, you can almost feel the people on the court while you’re playing, tonight was just the opposite of that and you just felt weird a little bit. You kinda had to tell yourself we have to generate our own energy, a lot of times we feed off the energy of the fans and that kinda stuff but today we had to generate our own energy a lot of times."

This had been one of the NBA's great cities, Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr said pre-game. Now that electricity is gone. The Warriors didn't even bother to bring Steph Curry, Draymond Green, and Andrew Wiggins giving the trio the night off, allowing them to avoid Canadian customs and potential exposure to COVID-19.

It may have been the right decision.

Just over an hour before tipoff, the Raptors announced Pascal Siakam and Dalano Banton had been admitted into the NBA's COVID-19 protocols. The two became just the latest to join over 70 players currently in protocols, forcing the Raptors to once again tighten protocols and return to socially distanced activities.

"It changes things," Raptors coach Nick Nurse said. "We've got to be as safe as we can, probably leaning towards not gathering nearly as much as I would like to. I'd like to at least get out there for a little bit. We're young growing team that needs to practice."

As for the game, well, it was what you'd expect from the Warriors' B Team. As it turns out, Curry, Green, and Wiggins are fairly important to Golden State's success. The Raptors jumped up early and rode impressive games from Fred VanVleet and Scottie Barnes to a 119-100 victory.

Barnes Continues to Thrive

Boy oh boy, can this kid pass. Barnes is simply a wizard with the ball. He seems to have every pass in the book, catching a lob off the pick-and-roll only to tip the ball out with one hand to Chris Boucher for a three that he missed. He found Yuta Watanabe in the corner with a cross-court pass down the baseline for a three that Watanabe missed. 

Barnes' touch passes to VanVleet for three remain a thing of beauty.

Scoring wise, he's not too shabby either. He bullied his way down the court through three Warriors defenders in the first half for the hoop and the harm.

All in all, he finished with 21 points on 8-for-12 shooting with eight rebounds and six assists.

VanVleet Nearly Recorded 1st Triple Double

VanVleet just needed a closer game. Had it come, the six-year NBA veteran probably would have recorded his first career triple-double courtesy of some brilliant first-half passing and lights-out shooting. 

Instead, he came up just short with a game-high 27 points, 12 assists, ten of which came in the first half, and seven rebounds.

"I've got to be a little more selfish," VanVleet joked about his rebounds. "I think can get 'em. If I actually tried to get a trible double I probably could get it, but every time I get close I just can't make myself hunt it the way I need to and being the shortest guy on the court doesn't really help in terms of chasing rebounds down."

Anunoby Returns

It wasn't anything special from OG Anunoby in his first game back from a hip pointer injury, but having the 24-year-old defensive stud in the lineup will certainly bode well for the Raptors moving forward when he gets back into the groove of things. He finished the night with seven points on 3-for-8 shooting.

Highlight of the Night

Another beautiful pass from Barnes kickstarted the Raptors' fastbreak, sending Gary Trent Jr. down the sideline before he lobbed it up to Precious Achiuwa, who also returned Saturday, for an alley-oop jam.

Achiuwa finished the game with 17 points off the bench on 8-for-12 shooting.

Up Next: Orlando Magic*

The Raptors will be back at it again on Monday against the severely undermanned Orlando Magic who were missing 12 players Saturday night and started Franz Wagner, Gary Harris, Mychal Mulder, Chuma Okeke, and Robin Lopez against the equally depleted Brooklyn Nets.

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Aaron Rose
AARON ROSE

Aaron Rose is a Toronto-based reporter covering the Toronto Raptors since 2020.

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