The Toronto Raptors have not played a game with their full complement of players in almost two weeks. It has resulted in one big win, two ugly losses, and three postponed games. As the Raptors get set to face the Los Angeles Clippers in their next game on New Year's Eve, head coach Nick Nurse was asked about what it felt like for his players to slowly start to clear the protocols and get back with the team and had this to say to Josh Lewenberg of TSN Sports:
“I guess so. The good news was we had 3 games postponed and Golden State didn't bring their team here. There's still the last 2 losses that we're not gonna get back” – Nick Nurse
Nurse is alluding to the fact that he thinks the NBA should have postponed the Raptors' last two games, as they basically had to field a G-League team in the first night before they started to get some guys back for Tuesday's loss to the Philadelphia 76ers.
One of the Raptors players who has recently gotten healthier and returned in the game against the 76ers was Pascal Siakam, who also spoke to Lewemberg about having COVID-19 for a second time. This time he was vaccinated and the time before, he was not able to get vaccinated yet and had to grind through the deadly virus without any immunity to it:
“I remember the first time feeling really sick, losing a lot of weight… This time around it felt like a cold, to be honest… In terms of the symptoms, it was OK.” – Pascal Siakam
The Raptors will hope that Siakam can ditch the cold symptoms and instead become a stone-cold killer on the court. Signed in the off-season to a four-year $137 million contract, Siakam has failed to live up to the money given to him due to an injury and now, COVID-19. He will need to get back to his old self if Toronto plans to make its way out of the bottom of the Atlantic Division and the team still has plenty of time left in the season to do just that.
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