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[Saba Sports News] The Toronto Raptors not only faced a 120-105 defeat against the Golden State Warriors on Friday but also suffered a significant setback with All-Star Scottie Barnes being sidelined indefinitely. Post-game, it was revealed that Barnes had fractured the third metacarpal in his left hand.
Toronto’s coach, Darko Rajakovic, expressed the impact of losing an All-Star caliber player, noting the team had to experiment with various lineups and gave chances to numerous players, as reported by NBA.com. The injury occurred shortly before the end of the first half when Barnes accidentally struck the rim trying to block a shot, leading to his early exit and immediate retreat to the locker room. He was replaced by Kelly Olynyk for the second half.
Before this game, Barnes had been performing impressively, averaging 20.0 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 6.1 assists per game, and had a streak of five consecutive double-doubles, which ended abruptly after he could only contribute 10 points and six rebounds in 16 minutes of play.