{"id":468,"date":"2021-01-23T01:06:39","date_gmt":"2021-01-23T01:06:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/?p=468"},"modified":"2021-01-23T01:21:15","modified_gmt":"2021-01-23T01:21:15","slug":"raptors-look-to-bounce-back-against-heat-without-star-players","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/2021\/01\/23\/raptors-look-to-bounce-back-against-heat-without-star-players\/","title":{"rendered":"Toronto Raptors look to bounce back against Miami Heat without Kyle Lowry"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The Toronto Raptors will be missing one of their two best players heading into Friday\u2019s game against the Miami Heat. Kyle Lowry is <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JLew1050\/status\/1352690761524006913?s=20\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JLew1050\/status\/1352690761524006913?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">out<\/a> with right foot soreness while Pascal Siakam will play despite sustaining an injury last game. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Siakam was listed as questionable on Thursday while Lowry is a new addition to the injury report. Siakam suffered a sore groin after landing awkwardly after a dunk attempt during Wednesday\u2019s loss against the Heat.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Before losing to the Heat on Wednesday, the Raptors had put together their most impressive stretch of basketball, winning three games in the row.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Patrick McCaw is still listed as out with his continued rehabilitation on his left knee.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Raptors are already down a roster spot with the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ShamsCharania\/status\/1351615789011501058?s=20\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ShamsCharania\/status\/1351615789011501058?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">release<\/a> of Alex Len on Tuesday. Despite not being a consistent rotational player, Len missed the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportsnet.ca\/nba\/article\/report-alex-len-agrees-one-year-contract-wizards\/\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.sportsnet.ca\/nba\/article\/report-alex-len-agrees-one-year-contract-wizards\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">last three games<\/a> for the Raptors.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Ukrainian big man <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ShamsCharania\/status\/1352632641447747595?s=20\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ShamsCharania\/status\/1352632641447747595?s=20\" target=\"_blank\">signed<\/a> with the Washington Wizards on Wednesday on a one-year deal.&nbsp;&nbsp;  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"container-wrapper-genially\" style=\"position: relative; min-height: 400px; max-width: 100%;\"><video class=\"loader-genially\" autoplay=\"autoplay\" loop=\"loop\" playsinline=\"playsInline\" muted=\"muted\" style=\"position: absolute;top: 45%;left: 50%;transform: translate(-50%, -50%);width: 80px;height: 80px;margin-bottom: 10%\"><source src=\"https:\/\/static.genial.ly\/resources\/panel-loader-low.mp4\" type=\"video\/mp4\">Your browser does not support the video tag.<\/video><div id=\"600b5e273efa590d21ce5ca9\" class=\"genially-embed\" style=\"margin: 0px auto; position: relative; height: auto; width: 100%;\"><\/div><\/div><script>(function (d) { var js, id = \"genially-embed-js\", ref = d.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) { return; } js = d.createElement(\"script\"); js.id = id; js.async = true; js.src = \"https:\/\/view.genial.ly\/static\/embed\/embed.js\"; ref.parentNode.insertBefore(js, ref); }(document));<\/script>\n\n\n\n<p>Lowry is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/l\/lowryky01.html\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/l\/lowryky01.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">averaging<\/a> 18.2 points per game with 7.1 assists and 6.5 rebounds. Siakam is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/siakapa01.html\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/siakapa01.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">averaging<\/a> almost 19 points per game with 7.7 rebounds and 4.7 assists.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Look for other rotational players such as Fred VanVleet and Norman Powell to have expanded roles in the offensive gameplan.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One player who could be primed for another big game is Chris Boucher. Boucher is <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bouchch01.html\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bouchch01.html\" target=\"_blank\">averaging<\/a> 15.5 points per game with 6.6 rebounds and 2.4 blocks, putting him firmly in the race for Most Improved Player of the Year as well as Sixth Man of the Year.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-involve-me wp-block-embed-involve-me\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" title=\"Raptors Quiz\" src=\"https:\/\/app.involve.me\/dhigney\/literature-pop-quiz-7aa7?embed=1&#038;oembed=1&#038;noresize=1#?secret=6l8Adm2roT\" data-secret=\"6l8Adm2roT\" width=\"1000\" height=\"600\" scrolling=\"yes\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Toronto Raptors will be missing one of their two best players heading into Friday\u2019s game against the Miami Heat. Kyle Lowry is out with right foot soreness while Pascal Siakam will play despite sustaining an injury last game. Siakam was listed as questionable on Thursday while Lowry is a new addition to the injury [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":264,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/264"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}