Raptors star Scottie Barnes out indefinitely with broken middle finger on left hand
TORONTO (AP) — Raptors star Scottie Barnes will be sidelined indefinitely after he broke the middle finger on his left hand during the first half of Friday night’s loss to Golden State.
Barnes won the NBA Rookie of the Year award in 2022. A first-time All-Star this season, the 6-foot-7 forward came into Friday’s game averaging career highs of 20 points, 8.3 rebounds and 6.1 assists.
Barnes was subbed out with just under two minutes to play in the second quarter and went to the locker room for treatment. Kelly Olynyk started the third period in Barnes’ place.
“Obviously when you lose an All-Star player in the game, that definitely changes a lot of things,” Toronto coach Darko Rajakovic said. “We tried with different lineups, different players tonight, gave multiple players opportunities there.”
Barnes finished with 10 points and six rebounds in 16 minutes, ending a career-best streak of five consecutive double-doubles.
The Raptors (22-38), who have lost two straight, continue a four-game homestand when they host Charlotte on Sunday night.
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Kerr explains early frustrations, timeouts in Dubs’ win vs. Raptors
Steve Kerr was all smiles at the podium after the Warriors won their eighth consecutive road win Friday, but the night didn’t begin like that.
Golden State’s sluggish start against the Toronto Raptors prompted Kerr to call two early timeouts within 20 seconds of one another in the opening quarter. After the second timeout was called at the 7:40 mark, the coach was visibly frustrated as he stepped onto the court and yelled at several players, including young forward Jonathan Kuminga.
After the 120-105 win at Scotiabank Arena, Kerr explained his emotional state that led to the back-to-back timeouts.
“I don’t like doing that,” Kerr told reporters in Toronto postgame. “I hate yelling at our guys. They’re such great guys. They’re doing such a nice job. We’ve really found a good groove. But the circumstances dictated the first six minutes. I think our guys were asleep still, which was understandable.
“But in the first timeout, I told them, ‘I’ll give you a pass on the first one but we got to wake up. We can only win this game if we put that stuff behind us and focus.’ And then we immediately messed up the ATO (After Timeout) and gave up a 3 in transition, so I called the next one.”
"I think our guys were asleep still."
Kerr detailing why he used two timeouts early in the first quarter of tonight's win 😅 pic.twitter.com/wikTPeFCAZ
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) March 2, 2024
Kerr used the first timeout to demonstrate how to shoot the ball, given that anyone on the Warriors not named Moses Moody was held scoreless in nearly the first five minutes of action. Less than 30 seconds later, Kerr called the second timeout after RJ Barrett sank a 23-foot triple.
At the time, Moody had all of Golden State’s seven points — but that soon changed.
Kerr’s animated frustrations seemingly wound up being a good thing for the Warriors, as it woke them up after a snoozy day of nightmare travel in New York City. The team outscored Toronto in the third and fourth quarters and escaped with a comfortable victory.
Kerr might not like yelling at players as he did in Friday’s win, but it seemed to have worked.
