There was a palpable sense of deflation in the media room when coach Dwane Casey admitted the Raptors’ newest acquisition, Serge Ibaka, would not play. The media horde around Casey was sizable — larger than would ordinarily be at a Wednesday night game, the last before the All-Star break, against the hopeless Charlotte Hornets. Everyone, myself included, was there to see Ibaka play.
The Raptors, as you may know, have been reeling. Before last night’s game they had lost 11 of their last 15, and had gone 10-14 since the calendar flipped to 2017.