TORONTO – Even as the NBA deadline approached the day before, Masai Ujiri knew his set of priorities.
“We are trying to bring the fans back to our home,” Ujiri said on Friday when asked what was the highest priority between the trade deadline or the return of fans to the Scotiabank Arena.
The Raptors president met with the media on Friday, where he made no secret of the fact that filling the Raptors arena is at the top of his list of priorities.
However, the Ontario government will not lift the ban on large showrooms – limited to 500 people – until February 21. The Scotiabank Arena, home of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Raptors, is included in this arena list.
Ujiri, however, is optimistic that these supporter boundaries will be lifted sooner than expected.
“We had discussions. Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment – the umbrella company of the Raptors, Maple Leafs and Toronto FC – is currently under discussion. “I had a lot of dialogue with people in high places,” Ujiri said of the imposed fan limit.
“With these things, there are a lot of studies, a lot of uncertainties. They tried to devote their time to reach a fair decision. As it goes, I hope it happens before the proposed date. »
The Raptors will play once again in front of almost empty stands on Saturday night, when they will host the Denver Nuggets. After this game, the team will be on the road for a series of five games that will last until March 1.
Uruji hopes to reunite with the potential 19,800 supporters by then.
The Raptors, who have won their last eight games, are sixth in the Eastern Conference and want to share that success with their fans.
“We are not going anywhere. We live here. “We are not going to play anywhere other than Toronto,” Ujiri said of rumors that the Raptors will be set up outside of Canada for the season.
Last season, the Raptors played all season under reduced size in Tampa Bay, Florida. They set a record 27-45 and lost the playoffs for the first time since the 2012-13 season.
Jessica Martinez is an author at Sportish, a publication dedicated to sports news and analysis. She covers various topics related to sports and provides insightful commentary on the latest developments in the world of sports.
Nine regular season games took place in the NBA on the night of December 26-27.
Utah hosted the Eastern Conference leader and won a sensational victory.
The first half of the match was spent with a small lead for the Pistons, who kept their opponent one or two shots away most of the time and entered the long break with a 1-point lead at 68:67. The decisive factor in the match was the third quarter; In this quarter, Jazz made a 16:3 move and took the lead by 12 points, 90:78. The home team had the advantage in the score, but Detroit gradually reduced the gap and 19 seconds before the siren, after two free throws by Cunningham, they equalized the score – 129:129. However, the match did not go to overtime – Utah took advantage of the remaining time with the efforts of George, who scored a two-pointer 3 seconds before the siren – 131:129.
Svyatoslav Mikhayyuk He stayed on the field for 21 minutes and recorded 9 points (3/4 two-pointers, 1/2 three-pointers), as well as 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal.
The most productive player was George, who scored 31 points for Utah, while Nurkic had a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds.
orlando: Black (24), Carter (16 + 8 rebounds), Bane (15 + 10 rebounds), Banchero (13), Jones (8) – start; Richardson (14) and Silva (8), Kane (5), Isaac (2), Howard (0), Penda (0), O. Robinson (0).
Charlotte: Ball (22 + 7 rebounds + 6 for loss), Knippel (16), Bridges (16 + 11 rebounds), Miller (15), Diabate (10 + 13 rebounds) – start; Hall (14 + 8 rebounds), Sexton (13), Hall (7), Green (6), Connaughton (1), James (0), Mann (0).
Chicago – Philadelphia – 109:102 (30:28, 19:24, 32:33, 28:17)
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On the evening of December 25 and the night of December 26, five Christmas games were traditionally held as part of the NBA regular season.
The most important match of the match day was played in Oklahoma, where the Thunder hosted San Antonio.
The home team started the game better and were ahead for most of the first quarter, but they missed a move 0:11 into the quarter, allowing Spurs to take the lead 41:36. Oklahoma was unable to take the lead after that, but San Antonio maintained its lead by keeping the game under control and eventually won 117-102.
The Spurs have won all three games against the Thunder this season, while Oklahoma has lost just two of the other 28 games.
The most productive player of the match was Fox, who brought 29 points to San Antonio, while Vembanyama also scored a double-double with 19 points and 11 rebounds.
The Lakers played Houston at home and suffered a crushing defeat.
The fate of the match was decided in the first quarter, when the Rockets won by 12 points (25:37). Afterwards, they increased their advantage by completely controlling the course of the match and eventually won with a score of 119:96.
For Houston, Thompson scored 26 points and Shengyun had a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds.
Denver and Minnesota closed out game day.
The first half of the match ended in a draw. Neither team managed to take a lead of more than 9 points, and Denver entered the big break with a 2-point lead at 57:55. In the third quarter, the Nuggets made an attack of 6:0 at the beginning and 10:2 in the middle, reaching a 16-point lead, and at the end of the quarter they were ahead +15 – 90:78. The Timberwolves did not give up and made a 16:2 move midway through the fourth quarter, reaching a lead of 107:108. This gave fans a tense ending; Edwards hit a three-pointer 2 seconds before the siren, sending the game into overtime at 115:115. And there Jokic played a decisive role and scored 18 points in 5 minutes, allowing the Nuggets to win 142:138.
Jokic scored 56 points in the NBA on Christmas Day, falling just four shy of Bernard King’s record. Nikola also recorded a triple-double with 16 rebounds and 15 assists. Murray had a double-double with 35 points and 10 assists.
NBA. Regular season. Christmas Day, 25-26 December
New York – Cleveland – 126:124 (23:38, 37:20, 24:38, 42:28)
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14 games of the NBA regular season were played on the night of December 23-24.
“Utah” hosted “Memphis” and in the middle of the second quarter they were ahead by 15 points at 50:65, but then they made a move at 17:4 and returned to the match 67:69. In the third quarter, the Jazz managed to take the lead with 71:69 and the game was leveled, but the Grizzlies added points at the end of the quarter and took the lead again with 109:101 and then calmly maintained the advantage with 137:128.
Svyatoslav Mikhayyuk The player, who was in Utah’s top 5 and played 22 minutes, recorded 9 points (4/4 free throws, 1/4 two-pointers, 1/5 three-pointers), 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, 1 turnover and 1 foul.
The most productive player of the match was Aldama, who scored 37 points for Memphis, while Spencer also recorded a double-double, adding 11 points and 13 assists.
In the main match of game day, San Antonio unexpectedly defeated Oklahoma.
During the three quarters, there was an even contest in which no team could gain a lead of more than 8 points, and the leader changed 16 times. The fate of the match winner was decided in the fourth quarter, and the 9:0 attack of the home team was effective in this, and then the advantage reached 12 points (98:86). San Antonio then controlled the course of the game and confidently cruised to victory, gaining an advantage of 130:110.
The top scorer of the winning team was Johnson, who scored 25 points, while Castle scored 24 points for Spurs.
I am a sports journalist who has written for various websites and magazines. I currently work as an author at Sportish, a news website that covers sports news. My main focus is writing about soccer, rugby and other sports in the world.
