Jonas Valanciunas out for rest of Miami Heat series
By John Buhler
Jonas Valanciunas will miss the rest of the Toronto Raptors’ Eastern Conference Semifinals series with the Miami Heat after spraining his ankle in Game 3.
According to the Toronto Raptors’ Media Relations Twitter account, starting center Jonas Valanciunas will not play in any more games for the rest of the Raptors’ Eastern Conference Semifinals series with the Miami Heat, on account of his sprained ankle suffered in Game 3.
Although No. 2-seeded Toronto has home court advantage over the No. 3 seed Heat, as well as a two games to one lead over Miami entering Monday night’s Game 4 at American Airlines Center, it will be very tough for the Raptors to overcome the loss of Valanciunas in this series.
Valanciunas had averaged a double-double in 10 2016 NBA Playoff games this season, with 15.0 points per game, 12.1 rebounds per game, 1.4 blocks per game and 1.0 steals per game. He’s been a huge part of the Raptors’ playoff success this season with a 119 offensive rating and a 97 defensive rating.
Not having Valanciunas in Games 4 to potentially Game 7 severely limits what Toronto can do in the front court. While he is dealing with an injury of his own, the Heat haven’t ruled out the return of their starting center Hassan Whiteside for the rest of this series.
Even if Whiteside remains sidelined with his day-to-day ailment, this means that for Toronto advance to the 2016 Eastern Conference Finals that they will have to do it with the help of their elite back court in All-Star point guard Kyle Lowry and All-Star shooting guard DeMar DeRozan. Lowry is in the midst of a huge shooting slump, and DeRozan is streaky at best come playoff time. Both will have to play fantastic basketball to offset this untimely and potentially crippling ankle injury to Valanciunas.
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