Raptors shuffle deck with Ibaka out
Big man will miss 3 games
TORONTO A couple of days later, Serge Ibaka still didn’t want to talk about his punchup in Cleveland with Marquese Chriss.
That left Raptors head coach Nick Nurse to reflect on the incident and the ensuing three-game suspension handed down by the NBA.
“It’s not great that this happens. Obviously, it’s not great, the ramifications of the punishment. And it’s not great from the big picture,” Nurse said after a light practice on Wednesday. “I think those things happen in such weird fashion. It isn’t like, ‘Jeez, I told him before the game not to do that.’ That’s not really the way it works.
“We’ve just got to try to keep an eye on it. I always look at, with everything, what was my role in that? Could I have done something different? I called that play. I’m wishing I wouldn’t have called that play (that saw Ibaka and Chriss get tangled up). There was one second to go. I wish I hadn’t have called that play and just eaten it. But that’s just not our style. We just don’t do it that way.”
Nurse plans to give Montreal’s Chris Boucher a shot at centre, while also playing Pascal Siakam some minutes there. The team will add centre Eric Moreland, who was cut after training camp, on a 10-day contract, according to the Athletic.
Marc Gasol will take over the starting role, perhaps for good, and will get to continue to work on his game, which Gasol has admitted needs some tinkering. But losing Ibaka is tough. “It’s something he’s done really well this year, I thought, emotionally, just in general. He’s just had a great season,” Nurse said. “He’s been a good teammate and all of that stuff. It’s a little bit of a bummer that he’s got to go through it and we’ve got to go through it. It’s just another little thing we’ve got to handle and move on from it and learn from it if we can and look at the positives.”
Like Gasol getting “a little more run and a little more rhythm and Serge (getting) a little more rest. There are some very, very slim silver linings there. That’s the way we’ve got to take them and view it and we’ve got to go play.”
Nurse said guards Kyle Lowry and Danny Green should be OK to face the Lakers Thursday, though their ankles are sore after being tweaked in Cleveland.
Nurse said backup point guard Fred VanVleet could return to the lineup Monday against New York.