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On Wednesday afternoon, before the team left for Canada, with sights on a sweep, Strus, the battle-tested playoff veteran, said a series doesn’t start until both teams get a chance to play on the road. The series has officially begun. “We will respond. We ain’t got no other choice,” James Harden said. “We didn’t expect to win 16 games in a row. You know what I mean? Guys [are] a little frustrated, which I get it, they’re supposed to be. We’re supposed to be. But find a way to weather the storm, figure it out and be better for Game 4. It’s a part of the whole process.”
Ryan Wolstat: Wol-stat of the day: RJ Barrett and A.J. Lawson are the fifth and sixth Canadians to play for the Raptors in the post-season. Joining Cory Joseph, Chris Boucher, Khem Birch and Dalano Banton.
Players typically begin returning to normal walking and strength exercises after about three months. From there, basketball activity is slowly reintroduced. "Even when you repair ligaments — like he had on the other side — the tissue needs time to heal," Jung said. "The bone stress also needs time to heal, and then he has to rebuild his strength." Given this timeline, it's unlikely that Edey will participate in NBA Summer League or play in the 2026 FIBA World Cup for Team Canada.
Jonas Valanciunas coming to NBA: Coming here, total different league, different culture, different language, different country and I was in Canada, now I got to adjust to Canada and then adjust to the US, so it was not the easiest thing to do but I had some people who helped me big time and I got comfortable slowly, step by step, teammates… I had Linas Kleiza with me at the Raptors. Another Lithuanian guy, he helped me a lot, put me in the right directions, translated for me. So, it was cool.
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“Toronto is still in my heart,” Leonard said during a brief remark, noting that his son was born in Canada. “He’s from Canada, so we always talk about bringing him back and showing him where he was born. I just wanted to leave a blueprint out here.” A mural, which features a photo of Leonard’s iconic Game 7 buzzer beater in 2019, was also unveiled.
Given the statistical company he's keeping alongside the Raptors' leap in the standings this season, Darko Rajaković appealed to Canadian basketball fans to rectify the situation and vote Scottie Barnes into his second All-Star Game on Feb. 15 in Los Angeles. "And we need to get this right," said Rajaković. "Canada needs to get this right. Starts with us. Starts with our city. Starts with our country over here. We have 40 million people living in this country, 40 million fans of (the) Toronto Raptors." "Canada we need to get this fixed right now," he added.
Iman Shumpert: All in or all out; we will not have an American MVP for the next five years. Nate Robinson: Oh, that’s… I'm all in on that. I'm gonna tell you right now. Why? Because you got all the Canadians balling, you got the Greek Freak, you got Joker. I don't think there's going to be an American MVP in a while. Shumpert: So no Cade Cunningham, no Anthony Edwards. Robinson: They’ll have to deal with Wemby. I want Edwards to win, but if they play like the World versus USA, I feel like they have the upper hand right now.
We also asked him for his opinion on the All-Star Game, where this year Team USA will play against Team World. The NBA’s goal is to make the game itself more interesting. “I hope that’s true, but I’m skeptical it will happen. It would be great for the All-Star Game if Team World won. But I’ve given up on the All-Star Game. I don’t go anymore. Last year I didn’t even watch it. I couldn’t tell you a single thing that happened in last year’s All-Star Game. If the Americans play at full intensity and the World—basically Europeans and Canadians—play at full strength and the World wins, that would be great. I think the NBA would secretly love for the World to win, so there’d be a little shame among the Americans. But my problem is that I know there actually wouldn’t be any shame. When it comes to an exhibition game, Americans are just there to have fun.”
TSN: Reigning NBA and NBA Finals MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander wins the Northern Star Award as Canada’s top athlete of the year! 🌟 It is Shai’s second time winning the award, first was in 2023.
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Steve Nash on Canada’s chances to win Olympics: It's incredible for me as a guy who came in the league and there was Bill Wennington, who went to high school in New York, but I believe his roots are in Montreal and Rick Fox who was born in Toronto and moved to the Bahamas in like 14 days. So that was it for Canada. Now there's like 24 guys on NBA rosters, the MVP of the league, really really good players. I think for Canada, frankly, the third position at the World Cup was great was a great result for them.
Eleven years after his retirement from the Association, however, Nash says he is ready to yield his crown to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. “He’s going to be an inspiring figure for many generations of Canadians to come,” said Nash. “I have no problem anointing him the greatest Canadian player ever.”
According to Sotiris Vetakis, Olympiacos is considering Dalano Banton to complete the backcourt. The 25-year-old Canadian is coming off two years with the Portland Trail Blazers, where he averaged 10.9 points and 2.8 assists in 97 games.
