Anunoby has been linked to the Trail Blazers and Jazz.
Report: OG Anunoby dissatisfied with role on Raptors, named in trade talk — ProBasketballTalk | NBC Sports
Anunoby has taken a step forward this season, averaging 20.1 points and 2.7 assists per game, both career highs.
Raptors OG Anunoby out “a while” with hip pointer, Nurse says — ProBasketballTalk | NBC Sports
That is 10 games in a row he has been out with a strained calf.
INJURY REPORT AT 5:30 SUNDAY
07:00 (ET) MIN@TOR Minnesota Timberwolves Culver, Jarrett Out Injury/Illness – Left Ankle; Sprain
Russell, D’Angelo Out Injury/Illness – Left Leg; Soreness
Toronto Raptors Anunoby, OG Out Injury/Illness – Left Calf; Strain
Flynn, Malachi Out G League – On Assignment
Harris, Jalen Out G League – Two-Way
McCaw, Patrick Out Injury/Illness – Left Knee; Surgery – rehabilitation
Watanabe, Yuta Out Injury/Illness – Left Ankle; Sprain
OG Anunoby will miss his ninth straight game with a strained calf tonight against the Boston Celtics, but could return on Sunday. Yuta Watanabe is also out again with a sprained ankle, he is also expected to return Sunday.
INJURY REPORT AT 5:39 P.M.
TOR@BOS Boston Celtics Langford, Romeo Out Injury/Illness – Right Wrist; Surgery Rehabilitation
Smart, Marcus Out Injury/Illness – Left Calf; Tear
Williams III, Robert Out Injury/Illness – Left Hip; Soreness
Toronto Raptors Anunoby, OG Questionable Injury/Illness – Left Calf; Strain
Flynn, Malachi Out G League – On Assignment
Harris, Jalen Out G League – Two-Way
McCaw, Patrick Out Injury/Illness – Left Knee; Surgery – rehabilitation
Watanabe, Yuta Doubtful Injury/Illness – Left Ankle; Sprain
INJURY REORT AT 1:30 P.M.
TOR@BKN Brooklyn Nets Claxton, Nicolas Out Injury/Illness – Right Knee; Tendinopathy
Dinwiddie, Spencer Out Injury/Illness – Right Knee; Partially Torn ACL
Perry, Reggie Out G League – Two-Way
Toronto Raptors Anunoby, OG Out Injury/Illness – Left Calf; Strain
Baynes, Aron Probable Injury/Illness – Right Groin; Strain
Flynn, Malachi Out G League – On Assignment
Harris, Jalen Out G League – Two-Way
McCaw, Patrick Out Injury/Illness – Left Knee; Surgery – rehabilitation
Norman Powell (right quadriceps contusion) and OG Anunoby (left calf strain) are out of the Toronto Raptors lineup for the game Sunday against the Orlando Magic at Tampa, according to the NBA injury report released at 5:30 p.m. Both missed the loss to the Sacramento Kings on Friday. Coach Nick Nurse said Powell could return for the game Tuesday at Orlando, but Anunoby likely will need another week or so.
Jeff Zillgitt USA TODAY Published 11:37 PM EDT Sep 3, 2020 LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — The situation was bleak but not hopeless. The Toronto Raptors trailed the Boston Celtics by one point with 0.5 seconds left in the fourth quarter following Daniel Theis’ dunk. The Raptors were in a huddle during the timeout, and […]
Inside OG Anunoby’s game-winning 3 that saved Raptors’ season — Portal4News
Jeff Zillgitt
USA TODAY
Published 11:37 PM EDT Sep 3, 2020
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — The situation was bleak but not hopeless. The Toronto Raptors trailed the Boston Celtics by one point with 0.5 seconds left in the fourth quarter following Daniel Theis’ dunk.
The Raptors were in a huddle during the timeout, and coach Nick Nurse designated Kyle Lowry to inbound the ball because “he has guts,” Nurse said, and designed a play with several options.
“Freddie (VanVleet) comes wheeling off there first, and Marc (Gasol) pins down for Pascal (Siakam), OG (Anunoby) clears out to the weak side, Marc tries to find an open area either at the rim or out, depending on how they played it,” Nurse said.
Anunoby was the fourth of four options. When Lowry got the ball from the referee to pass it in, he surveyed the court with Boston’s 7-foot-6 Tacko Fall guarding the pass.
In the actions Toronto created with Lowry looking for an open player, the Celtics lost track of Anunoby. Jayson Tatum and Theis focused on VanVleet. After Gasol set a screen for Siakam, he also set a screen on Jaylen Brown, leaving Anunoby open on the far side of the court.
With just enough time to catch and shoot, Anunoby did exactly that and drilled a corner 3, giving the Raptors a 104-103 victory in Game 3 on Thursday.
“Give OG his flowers tonight,” Lowry said.
Anunoby barely had a reaction as his teammates mobbed him.
“I don’t shoot trying to miss,” Anunoby said.
Said VanVleet: “I know he was excited. That’s just his nature. Being in those situations, sometimes you don’t know what to do. I don’t think he’s a guy who’s going to run around the court. That was true OG form right there to knock down the biggest shot of his life and act like nothing happened. The rest of us were more excited for him than he was for himself.”
The shot saved Toronto’s season. The Raptors were on the verge of a 3-0 deficit. Now, it’s a much more manageable 2-1 deficit, and they came back from a 2-0 hole in last season’s Eastern Conference finals against Milwaukee and won the series.
“It’s OG’s moment,” Lowry said. “That’s a great moment for that kid. I’m so happy and so proud of him. The pass meant nothing. The shot was everything. … He deserves every ounce of love and celebration that he’s going to get tonight. The kid works extremely hard. That’s his moment. Let him live in it, and I’ll ruin tomorrow when he watches film and I tell him what he messed up on.”
Anunoby finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds, and he helped keep the Raptors close in the first half when Lowry, Siakam and VanVleet continued with their offensive struggles. He had nine points and was Toronto’s second-leading scorer behind Lowry’s 15 in the first half.
Lowry wanted to deflect credit. But his cross-court pass was magnificent in its own right.
“There’s not a lot of times that you probably want a — let’s call him 6-foot-1 — guard taking the ball out of bounds in a late-game situation because you saw they tried to put size on him,” Nurse said.
First off, Lowry had Fall waving his long arms in front of him. To create a little extra space, Lowry backed off the sideline near Boston’s bench. He watched as players set the play in action with screens and movement, and he surveyed the defense.
He noticed Anunoby slipped unguarded to the corner on the opposite side of the court — about 55 feet away. Lowry had to launch the perfect pass — over Fall but not too much air under the ball so that a defender could get to Anunoby and disrupt the play.
“It was a beautiful pass,” VanVleet said. “We don’t give Kyle as much credit as you guys give him. We expect those things from him. So it’s not that amazing from our perspective. I’ve become accustomed to seeing him do those things on a nightly basis.”
The Raptors have struggled offensively in the series and had trouble shooting through the first 2½ quarters on Thursday. But they found just enough offense from Lowry (31 points), VanVleet (17 of his 25 points in the second half) and Siakam (14 of his 16 in the second half).
Their defense remained solid, holding Boston to 46 points in the second half.
Add one great pass and one clutch shot, and the series is a lot closer than it looked after the first 47 minutes, 59.5 seconds of Game 3.
Follow Jeff Zillgitt on Twitter @JeffZillgitt.Tags:Basketball
Matt Eppers USA TODAY Published 1:10 AM EDT Sep 4, 2020 With their season on the line, the Toronto Raptors drew up a play that delivered when they needed it most. OG Anunoby hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Raptors a 104-103 win over the Boston Celtics in Game 3 of their […]
Jaylen Brown: Celtics’ defense a ‘disgrace’ on Raptors’ game-winner — Portal4News
Matt Eppers
USA TODAY
Published 1:10 AM EDT Sep 4, 2020
With their season on the line, the Toronto Raptors drew up a play that delivered when they needed it most. OG Anunoby hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Raptors a 104-103 win over the Boston Celtics in Game 3 of their second-round series Thursday night.
Anunoby caught a cross-court pass with 0.5 seconds left on the clock and got his shot off over the out-stretched hand of a leaping Jaylen Brown.
Brown tipped his cap to the Raptors afterwards for the slick play design. However, he lamented the Celtics’ defensive lapse that allowed Anunoby to get free and couldn’t hide his frustration.
“It’s a (expletive) disgrace at the end of the game,” Brown said. “That was just terrible. No way we should have lost that game. I take responsibility for that. Not just that play, but a lot of the plays before. It happens. It’s the NBA playoffs. Either you let them gain momentum or you come back and get ready to play next game.”
Brown and the Celtics could have taken a commanding 3-0 series lead and effectively ended the Raptors’ title defense. Instead, Toronto is back in the series down 2-1 with Game 4 on Saturday night.
“Just a miscommunication, the coverage that we were in,” Brown said of the final play. “That’s all that really is. They made a remarkable play at the end.”
Anunoby finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds for Toronto. Kyle Lowry scored 31 points, and Fred VanVleet added 25.
Brown had 19 points and 12 rebounds for Boston. Kemba Walker had 29 points, and Jayson Tatum had 15.
Welcome back. Basketball’s pretty good, isn’t it? Not all of Raptors-Lakers was crisp stuff, but that second half sure was a lot of fun. Read More
WORDZ OF WOZDOM: Fear the Raptors — esp. if this is the real OG — Toronto Sun
If scrimmage No. 1 was the Serge Ibaka show, scrimmage No. 2 was the OG Anunoby reveal. Read More
Anunoby looks like a new man on offence in Raptors’ win over Portland — Toronto Sun
Mike GanterMore from Mike Ganter
Published:July 26, 2020
Updated:July 26, 2020 10:01 PM EDT
Filed Under:
If scrimmage No. 1 was the Serge Ibaka show, scrimmage No. 2 was the OG Anunoby reveal.
Anunoby is Toronto’s lockdown defender, that goes without saying. But coach Nick Nurse has long been touting Anunoby’s all-around game or at least the potential for more of an all-around game.
In the past, Anunoby lacked the kind of flow and smoothness many of his NBA counterparts just seem to have instinctively when they have the ball on offence
Now, Anunoby does not say too much to the media as a general rule and when he does speak it is almost strictly in generalities, but based on last night’s performance he has put in a ton on work on his ball handling and dribbling abilities since we last saw him live and that was easily the most important takeaway from last night’s 110-104 win over Portland.
Anunoby looked like a different player at the offensive end confidently putting the ball on the deck and dribble-driving past the Portland Trail Blazers defenders on numerous occasions in the Raptors’ 110-104 win.
His stat line paled in comparison to the 19 points and six rebounds from the aforementioned Ibaka or even the 18 points and six rebounds from Pascal Siakam.
On paper Anunoby’s night was a solid seven points, six boards, four assist evening along with two blocks.
But it was the confidence and ease with which he drove into traffic and found the open man that really made his night stand out.
“I thought he looked good,” Nurse said of Anunoby. “I thought I really liked this aggressiveness and thought his quickness and skill work on some of those drives both at the start and at the end, looked really good.”
If Anunoby can attack off the dribble like he did Sunday night it just makes the entire Raptors offence that much more dangerous.
“He’s a pretty good catch-and-shoot guy we want to make him a guy that can really make teams pay for having to send help to some of our other guys and eventually I (would) just like him to be a bigger part of the offence and just a tough matchup to guard with his shooting, his size, his driving, and his posting. Just more actions and more things you can do.”
TOUGHER THE BETTER
Were these games that actually count, news that an elite talent like Damian Lillard not playing against them might have the Raptors doing a little celebratory dance.
But when you are testing yourself and getting yourself tuned up for when those games do count, you want the toughest opponent possible.
So it’s unlikely there was anything but disappointment when word spread pre-game that Lillard would not be playing. Lillard was held out with left foot inflammation after X-rays came back negative. Head coach Terry Stotts said he did not think the injury was long-term and was hopeful Lillard would be back for the Trail Blazers final scrimmage.
EARLY SCARE
Fred VanVleet signalling to the bench immediately after knee on knee contact with Anfernee Simmons had to have every Raptors fan either cursing at their television screens or at the very least reaching for the worry beads.
The collision occurred with 2:43 left in the first quarter and that was the last run VanVleet would see for the evening.
Nurse said after the game he didn’t think it was anything to be overly concerned about.
“He knocked knees and I don’t think it was too bad, but it’s just a scrimmage, there’s no sense in trying to play him through that in this deal,” Nurse said.
VanVleet could be seen on the telecast on the bench after the scare cheering on his team and smiling with his teammates. Not exactly the behaviour anyone would expect were the injury considered serious.
GASOL BACK AT IT
Chiselled Marc Gasol made his re-start debut last night playing just under 10 minutes. He did not play at all in the second half as the Raptors are monitoring his minutes given the injury issues before the season shut down in March.
Skinnier Gasol seems a little more likely to attack the rim and he did that on at least one occasion going right at Josef Nurkic and drawing a foul in the process.
But it’s clear Gasol has a little more ability in that area than he may have had before when he was carrying more weight.
It just adds to an already impressive resume and just makes the Raptors that much better.
Gasol sounded like a kid on Christmas morning after the game.
“I know it might have been a scrimmage but I was geeked up the whole day,” Gasol said. “Excited about it, and happy that I got to help the team.”
If there was a downside to the evening it was that he only got to play those 10 minutes, but Gasol wasn’t too upset.
“Yeah, you always wanna play more but you know that you gotta build it up,” he said. “We know when the important times come and when the big games come, you have to be ready to take those bigger minutes. So we’ve gotta build it up a little bit, and that’s OK.”
1:31 AM ET Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert was ejected late during Monday’s 101-92 loss to the Toronto Raptors, and he didn’t mince words at his displeasure over getting tossed. “I don’t think it makes sense to me. But next time I’ll do justice myself so the official can eject me for a reason,” Gobert […]
Jazz’s Gobert vows ‘justice’ before next ejection — VOICE OF THE HWY
FINAL SCORE: TORONTO RAPTORS 137, MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES 126 DATE: FEBRUARY 10, 2020 ATTENDANCE: 19,800 (Sellout)
FINAL SCORE RECORD HIGH POINTS HIGH REBOUNDS HIGH ASSISTS Minnesota 126 16-36 Towns – 23 Towns – 10 Towns – 7
Toronto 137 40-14 Siakam – 34 Anunoby – 12 Lowry – 11
KEY RUN Leading 112-108 with 6:42 remaining in the fourth, Toronto went on a 20-5 run to push the lead to 19 with 3:07 left … The Raptors led by double digits the rest of the way.
KEY STAT Toronto shot .573 (51-for-89) from the field, including .643 (27-for-42) in the first half … The Raptors improved to a perfect 15-0 this season when they shoot +.500 from the floor.
RAPTORS NOTES: • With the win, Toronto improves to 40-14 this season and 21-7 at home … The Raptors have won five straight games vs. Minnesota and swept the season-series for the second straight year … Toronto’s last game before the All-Star break is Wednesday night at Brooklyn. • The Raptors won their franchise record 15th straight game (Jan. 15 – Feb. 10) – the second longest win streak in the NBA this season … Toronto has won six in a row at home during this stretch. • The Raptors have now won 16 consecutive games at home vs. Minnesota … The Timberwolves’ last victory at Toronto was Jan. 21, 2004. • Toronto’s 40-14 record after 54 games is the best in franchise history … The Raptors have reached 40 wins prior to the All-Star break for the third straight year. • The Raptors outscored Minnesota 60-38 in the paint and 35-10 on the fast-break. • Kyle Lowry recorded his 10th double-double of the season, finishing with 27 points and 11 assists in 40 minutes … Lowry has a double-double in each of his last three games played (Feb. 5-10). • OG Anunoby posted his fifth double-double of the season with a career-high 25 points and a career high-tying 12 rebounds in 36 minutes … Toronto is 4-0 this year when Anunoby scores 20 or more. • In his third start of the year, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson scored a season-high 21 points in 34 minutes. • All five Toronto starters scored in double digits, combing for a franchise record 123 points. • The Raptors had five players score double figures – Pascal Siakam (34), Lowry (27), Anunoby (25), Hollis-Jefferson (21) and Fred VanVleet (16) … Toronto had four players score 20 or more points in the same game for just the ninth time in team history.
TIMBERWOLVES NOTES: • With the loss, Minnesota falls to 16-36 on the season and 9-17 on the road … The Timberwolves have dropped seven straight games on the road (Jan. 7 – Feb. 10) … Minnesota’s final game before the All-Star break is Wednesday night when they host Charlotte. • D’Angelo Russell finished with 22 points in 32 minutes in his debut with Minnesota. • The Timberwolves had five players score in double digits – Karl Anthony-Towns (23), Russell (22), Juancho Hernangomez (15), Malik Beasley (15) and Jarrett Culver (15) … Anthony-Towns pulled down 10 rebounds for his fifth straight double-double and 24th of the season.
The view from left field 