Raptors ring out year with familiar faces and a gritty win

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The regulars were back, but they weren’t quite regular.

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The Raptors returned to an almost full quorum last night with Scottie Barnes the lone regular not dressed against the Clippers.

But there was plenty of rust particularly from a shooting standpoint as the Raptors three-point game went in the dumper for the majority of the night.

Fortunately for the home side they were playing against a team missing most of its stars and despite the poor shooting were able to eke out a 116-108 win.

For the game, the Raptors shot just over 40% and just 30% from behind the arc.

Fred VanVleet, one of six Raptors making his return to the floor after a stint in the league’s health and safety protocols, struggled mightily from deep for most of the game.

At one point in the third quarter he missed his seventh three-point attempt in eight tries and actually punched himself in the head. It was that kind of night.

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But whether that was the wakeup call he and the Raptors needed or not it seemed to do the trick as the misses became fewer and further apart and the makes just frequent enough to hold off the Clippers.

VanVleet would wind up with a game-high 31 points, though he need 27 attempts to get there.

Pascal Siakam, playing in his second game after his stint in protocols, had a 25-point night with a game high 18 rebounds, a season high and just one off his career high.

Khem Birch, Precious Achiuwa, Dalano Banton and Justin Champagnie also returned to the lineup.

The only other notable absence was newcomer DJ Wilson who joined the protocols list after two strong games for the Raptors.

The Raptors were expecting to have all their regulars back for last night but a little flare up of some tendinitis in Barnes’ right knee prevented that. Barnes had been in the health and safety protocols until he cleared on Thursday for practice.

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“I’m as surprised as you guys are,” Raptors’ head coach Nick Nurse said. “It seems kind of strange that we played a lot, and he only went out because of protocols and had a lot of time off. We’ll just have to work him back in I guess.”

The Clippers arrived in Toronto only to discover head coach Ty Lue had to be placed in the health and safety protocols, the eighth NBA head coach to join that list. Centre Ivica Zubac also joined that list a day earlier opening the door for rare start for former Raptor Serge Ibaka who has playing his first game in Toronto or against the Raptors since he left to join the Clippers.

Ibaka finished the night with seven points and seven rebounds in 18 minutes.

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