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Tim BontempsESPN
Two days after the Toronto Raptors beat the Houston Rockets with several coaches (including head coach Nick Nurse) and star striker Pascal Siakam seated due to NBA safety and health protocols, the Raptors had postponed the game. on Sunday night against the Chicago Bulls because they were unable to present the eight players needed.
It is unclear whether Toronto will be able to return to the track before the All-Star stop next weekend. The Raptors are scheduled to host the Detroit Pistons Tuesday before facing the Celtics in Boston on Thursday.
It is unknown if the Rockets ‘game Sunday night in Houston against the Memphis Grizzlies will have to be postponed due to the Raptors’ problems.
After the announcement came out about Nurse, her coaching staff and Siakam who were not available for Friday’s game, Raptors general manager Bobby Webster said the NBA, which determines whether or not the games will be played , finally determined that his testing schedule was rigorous enough that it would be safe for the Raptors and Rockets to play.
“We talked to the NBA,” Webster said. “One way to think about it is that we get tested twice in the morning, so if those tests turn negative, it will give you permission to participate in activities that day, and you can even test later in the day if “I think once the negative tests came back this afternoon, I think that gave the NBA the comfort that at least for today we have it clear.”
And while the Raptors won Friday with veteran assistant Sergio Scariolo serving as head coach for the first time in an NBA game, after a decorated European and international career, including coaching at Real Madrid and for more than a decade, leading the Spanish team: it was only clear for this match.
This will be the first test of the NBA’s attempt to try to get all teams to play 72 games played this season. The league released its schedule for the second half of the season last week, one of which saw several teams try to crush many games in a few days. In the cases of the Grizzlies and San Antonio Spurs, they are expected to play 40 games in 68 days.
Toronto, on the other hand, had planned to play 36 games in 67 days. That number will now increase by at least one, and potentially up to three. While the NBA’s goal is for all teams to play their 72 scheduled games, sources have said the league is aware that all 30 teams may not be able to reach that number. There is limited flexibility within the calendar to add games or to add dates to the calendar, as the NBA wants to get the playoffs to end in time before the scheduled start of the Olympics in late July.
The league will host a truncated All-Star Weekend in Atlanta a week from today, combining its Saturday night events (the skill challenge, the 3-point contest and the slam dunk contest) and the All -Star Game, all in one night in the face of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Meanwhile, the league has significantly tightened safety and health protocols in recent weeks to try to mitigate the spread of the virus. For several weeks it seemed to prevent outbreaks from occurring throughout the team, but in the last two weeks the Spurs, Charlotte Hornets and now the Raptors have postponed several games as a result of the virus.