As they were closing in on a win Monday night, the Toronto Raptors took a big blow when Scottie Barnes was forced to leave the game in the final minutes of the fourth quarter.
Barnes took an elbow to the eye from Denver Nuggets centre Nikola Jokic while battling for an offensive rebound and stayed down on the court as play went the other way. Barnes immediately subbed out and went to the locker room after the next whistle.
The Raptors announced that Barnes would not return at the beginning of overtime.
Barnes had been stuffing the scoresheet as Toronto broke out to a lead over the Nuggets, recording 21 points, 12 rebounds, nine assists, five steals and one block.
Entering Monday’s contest, the 23-year-old was averaging 18.7 points, 6.3 rebounds and 5.0 assists on 45.5 per cent shooting over three games.
