Fred VanVleet Injury: Why did the Raptors star leave mid-game against the Clippers?
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Fred VanVleet of the Toronto Raptors
Point Guard Fred VanVleet left the game early when the Toronto Raptors hosted the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday. The game ended 124-113 in favor of the team from Los Angeles. The Toronto Raptors were already trailing with 4 minutes left in the third quarter when they got hit with the double whammy.
Fred VanVleet, who was having a rather quiet game up until this point, had to leave the game due to injury. The Raptors guard had briefly gone to the locker room in the 1st quarter to stretch out his back but returned to the game. In Q3 though, he did not return after leaving the game once again. The official reason given for his exiting the game at the time was lower back stiffness.
Nick Nurse wasn’t asked anything about the injury immediately after the game. However, in the build-up to the Raptors’ game against the Grizzlies on the 29th, Nurse has said that VanVleet is dealing with back spasms and his current status is day-to-day.
VanVleet has not been his usual self this season, averaging 18.5 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 6.1 assists per game. All of these numbers are down from last season. He is also shooting below par with field-goal and 3-point percentages of 38.2% (40.2% career average) and 33.1% (37.6% career average). Having said all that, the Raptors will want their all-star point guard back healthy to help them overturn a bad start to the season.
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Fred VanVleet and Toronto Raptors struggling to find form after yet another loss
In the preseason, the Toronto Raptors had an over/under figure of 46.5. After losing to the Clippers, they dropped to 15-19 and are on pace to finish the season with 36 wins. The Raptors’ struggles have come in conjunction with regression in play from core guys Fred VanVleet and Scottie Barnes.
As mentioned earlier on, VanVleet’s numbers and efficiency are down across the board. With Barnes, it’s almost the same story. There is a fall in points and rebounds per game along with a drop in field-goal percentage (45.1% this season vs 49.2% last season).
It’s not all doom and gloom in Toronto however, the bright spot has been the ascendency of Pascal Siakam. ‘Spicy P’ has been excellent this season. Siakam is putting up averages of 26.6/8.5/6.8, all of which are career highs. The Cameroonian is definitely worthy of all-star and All-NBA consideration this year.
Toronto will face an uphill battle in the coming days with VanVleet out and all of their next 6 games being against teams above .500 (Memphis, Phoenix, Indiana, Milwaukee, New York, and Portland). They will look to ride Siakam’s hot streak to survive this stretch of games as they could decide the course of action for the rest of the season. Whether to keep the playoff push alive? Or to shut up shop and tank to get into the Wembanyama sweepstakes. It is imperative that the Raptors show up now.
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