The Toronto Raptors announced Sunday that Jonas Valanciunas’ ankle injury suffered in Saturday’s win over the Miami Heat will keep him off the court for the remainder of the series.
To call this a major blow to the Raptors’ chances of moving on to the Eastern Conference finals would be a severe understatement. JV has been a difference-maker the entire post-season, and we were looking forward to him dominating against another injury victim, Hassan Whiteside. No such luck.
Our choices are to curse the darkness or light a candle. I’ll take the second option. As coach Dwane Casey says, “Next man up”.