Injury Update On Scottie Barnes Raptors Fall To Warriors

TORONTO: With all-star Scottie Barnes out for Toronto due to injury, Stephen Curry led the Golden State Warriors to a 120-105 victory over the Raptors on Friday. Curry scored 25 points on seven three-pointers.

Curry had six assists and six rebounds as Golden State (32-27) won three in a row.

For the Warriors, Jonathan Kuminga scored 24 points, while Moses Moody chipped in with 17.

Toronto (22–38) was led by Mississauga, Ontario’s RJ Barrett, who finished with 23 points, four assists, and three rebounds.

Jakob Poeltl of the Raptors and Kelly Olynyk from Kamloops, British Columbia, both had double-doubles. Olynyk finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds off the bench, while Poeltl finished with 10 points and tied a season-high 14 rebounds.
Barnes left his left hand wounded during the intermission and did not return to the court. Before his night was out, he finished with 10 points and 6 rebounds in 16 minutes of action.

Around halfway through the first quarter, Curry’s first three of the game brought the 19,800 spectators at Scotiabank Arena a little cheer. It was his first game back in Toronto since the Raptors’ six-game victory over the Warriors in the 2019 NBA Finals.

The Warriors narrowed the deficit to trail 31-28 at the end of the first quarter, despite Toronto’s lead of up to nine points in the opening frame. After one quarter, Barrett and Curry had scored nine points apiece to lead all scorers.
In the last 1:11 of the second quarter, Curry and Kuminga combined for six baskets, giving Toronto a 64-61 advantage going into halftime.

Two minutes into the third quarter, Curry made a three-pointer to tie the score at 66-66. After Raptors backup center Olynyk responded with a tip shot, Golden State took the lead for the first time since the game’s opening basket when Klay Thompson made a corner three with 9:02 remaining in the third. It was Thompson’s first points of the game.

After the intermission, Barnes remained hidden, but his absence was felt. Shortly after the Raptors revealed that the all-star forward would not be playing, Golden State exploded for a 12-point advantage.

With 35.1 seconds remaining in the third quarter, Toronto rookie Gradey Dick converted an alley-oop pass from D.J. Carton into a 180-degree slam, reducing the Warriors’ lead to 93-83. Curry scored nine points in the third quarter, all of which were from three-pointers, as Golden State defeated the hosts 32–19.

Warriors head coach Steve Kerr let his bench to sustain his team’s lead during Curry’s five-minute absence in the opening frame of the game. When Curry returned to the court, Raptors supporters welcomed him back with open arms.

In that brief period, he scored two more points as Golden State’s lead grew to 16 points in the fourth quarter.

FREEMAN-LIBERTY CONVERTED: An hour prior to tipoff, guard Javon Freeman-Liberty’s contract with the Toronto Raptors was changed to a regular NBA contract. With the Raptors 905, Toronto’s G League club, he averages a team-high 24 points, 6.9 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 1.5 steals, and 35.5 minutes per game.