Injuries reach catastrophic volume
Scottie Barnes is out indefinitely, perhaps the rest of the season, with a fractured hand. Jakob Poeltl is out indefinitely after undergoing surgery for a torn ligament in his pinkie. Now Chris Boucher has a partially torn MCL he sustained over the weekend on the putback that sent the game to overtime in Portland.
The Raptors, a team with shockingly little continuity as it was, have been forced to play with every manner of lineup configuration over the past few games. That reality was put into stark contrast when they played the Nuggets on Monday night:
Raptors say Barrett and Brown will play. The 11-man roster team represents 208 total games in Toronto uniforms.
— Doug Smith: Raptors (@SmithRaps) March 12, 2024
Jamal Murray has played 458 and Nikola Jokic 658 games each for Denver
To their credit, however, the Raptors gave the Nuggets everything they could handle. In the end, Nikola Jokic was too much and the defending champions eeked out the win, but they had to work for it.
Despite the loss, we looked at three positive takeaways for the team after the hard-fought battle.