8:50 p.m. ET
Tim Bontemps ESPN
PHILADELPHIA — Toronto Raptors rookie forward Scottie Barnes suffered a sprained left ankle and was eliminated in the fourth quarter of Toronto’s 131-111 loss in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference first round playoff series to the 76ers at the Wells Fargo Center .
X-rays of Barnes’ ankle were negative, but Raptors coach Nick Nurse said more pictures would be taken on Sunday. He reported the same about Raptors forward Thaddeus Young, who left the game in the second quarter with a left thumb sprain.
“It’s tough man,” Raptors forward Pascal Siakam said of Barnes’ injury. “Obviously he works extremely hard and has played great this season. And I know he was really looking forward to the playoffs and wanted to be there and play.
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“So yeah man we’ll see. Of course we’re hoping to have him in the next game. But yeah it’s definitely hard to see him go down. And I know it’s hard for him because he’s out there wanted to be.” us.”
Barnes was in the lane playing defense when 76ers star Joel Embiid accidentally stepped on his left foot as he swerved into the lane. Barnes immediately went on a heap and grabbed his left foot, visibly in pain, and stayed down for several minutes while being tended to by Toronto’s training staff. He was eventually helped into the Toronto locker room without being able to put much weight, if any, on his left foot.
Barnes was ruled out for the game a short time later. He had 15 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists in 31 minutes in his first career playoff game.
“I thought he was pretty good,” Nurse said of how Barnes played in his first NBA playoff game before his injury. “I thought he played well. I thought he looked confident out there, made good plays. I wish he’d had a few more tries on the edge or just shots in general. Gosh, he’s got 15 Hung up he was When I got to the free throw line I thought he was a good slasher, made some nice passes I thought he looked like he belonged out there For a young rookie in his first playoff Playing on the street against a really good team, I thought he looked like he belonged there.”
Barnes, the fourth pick in last year’s draft, was great in his debut season, tied all season with Cleveland Cavaliers forward Evan Mobley for Rookie of the Year. Barnes averaged 15.3 points, 7.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists in 74 regular-season games for Toronto.
Young, on the other hand, left the game after just a few minutes in the second quarter and was quickly ruled out for the rest of the evening with his thumb sprain.
Young, acquired by Toronto in a deal with the San Antonio Spurs at the NBA’s close, finished the game with a rebound in six minutes and missed his only shot on his return to Philadelphia, where he began his career after playing as a 12th overall in 2007.
Barnes and Young’s injuries were just one of a myriad of issues Toronto faced in Game 1. The Raptors allowed the 76ers to shoot 51% from the field, including 50% (16 to 32) from 3-point range. Toronto was also outrebounded 39-36, including 10-7 on offensive boards, and forced only four turnovers in Philadelphia, including none in the first half.
And while Nurse was quick to praise the 76ers, saying they were the more physical team and outperformed the Raptors on Saturday, he also said that he felt more calls should have been made against Embiid, who has 19 points, 15 rebounds and had four assists while he went to the free throw line 11 times.
“The counter is we have to think if we’re defensively legal they’re going to call these,” Nurse said. “We’ve had a couple of times where we hit him on the spot and he knocked us straight out and they just let him put it on.
“I don’t care if you’re 5-foot-11 and 160 pounds, if you hit him on the spot and he overruns it’s a foul. I thought he threw three or four elbows in the face. He was called for one. OK. I mean we’re going to be in there. We just have to, if we’re legal defensively then we have to call them or we don’t stand a chance, period. No one can stand guard this guy if they let him run you over and over again.
“We’re going to stand in there and see if we don’t get some more elbow-to-the-face calls and some more hitting them to the spot calls.”