RAPTORS, BOUCHER BREATHE SIGH OF RELIEF AT DIAGNOSIS
Canadian unlikely to miss major time with what turns out to be only a strained knee
Given what could have occurred, the Toronto Raptors have to be counting themselves somewhat fortunate following an MRI on Chris Boucher's strained left knee.
Boucher injured the knee when Timothe Luwawu-cabarrot of the Brooklyn Nets came down on his foot in Wednesday's game, forcing the lower part of Boucher's leg to twist violently.
Imaging on Friday revealed a sprained left medial collateral ligament, which could mean anywhere from a week to two weeks of recovery time.
But when watching Boucher writhing in pain on the floor, the first inclination was it was a much more serious and longterm injury.
Boucher is enjoying a breakout season with the Raptors this year. The Montreal native is averaging 13.6 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.9 blocks a game while shooting a healthy 39 per cent from deep.
Boucher was also just settling into locked-in minutes behind Pascal Siakam at the power forward position after head coach Nick Nurse was forced to play him out of position at centre when the Raptors didn't have a better option there.
Now, with the arrival of another Montreal native in Khem Birch and the uber-popular Freddie Gillespie, Nurse has been able to shift Boucher exclusively to minutes at the four position, where he is much more suited.
Look for Yuta Watanabe, who was recently converted to a standard NBA contract, to soak up most of Boucher's minutes until he returns, starting with Saturday afternoon's game against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.
The Raptors (25-34) battle the Knicks (33-27) in a 1 p.m. Eastern start.
The Knicks are the hottest team in the NBA right now, having reeled off eight wins in a row to climb to fourth place in the Eastern Conference.
The combination of Julius Randle and RJ Barrett is leading the charge offensively and the entire Knicks team has bought into Tom Thibodeau's defensive principles. As such, the Knicks look nothing like the Knicks of the past 20 years or so.
The eight consecutive wins have included victories over such challengers as the Atlanta Hawks, Los Angeles Lakers and one against Toronto just two weeks ago. The Knicks are for real and poised to make some playoff noise for the first time since 1999.
In the Raptors' last visit to New York, they nearly overcame an 18-point deficit before falling 102-96 on April 11.
Since that meeting in New York, the Raptors are 4-1 in their last five games and on their second four-game winning streak of the season. They are 7-4 in their past 11 games after losing 13 of 14 games from March 3-31.
Like the Knicks, the Raptors enter the contest with two days off after dominating the third quarter for a 114-103 victory over the visiting Brooklyn Nets.
Siakam led the way with 27 points and OG Anunoby added 25 as the Raptors also were at full strength with the returns of Kyle Lowry and Fred Vanvleet. Vanvleet added 17 after missing eight of the previous nine games with a hip injury, while Lowry finished with 14 in only his third game since March 26 after getting extended rest.
“The chemistry built throughout the game,” said Nurse. “I thought our guys did a really good job of adjusting. Obviously, we were creating a lot of good shots. I think it was a good step forward.”
Randle is having a breakout year under Thibodeau and will be right at the top of the list of most improved players in the current season.
He's averaging 23.6 points, 10.5 rebounds and 6.1 assists per game, which puts him in the hunt along with the likes of Jerami Grant of Detroit and Michael Porter Jr. of Denver.
Anunoby, as he normally does, draws the toughest cover assignment and he'll give Randle everything he can handle at both ends of the floor.