Facing a pivotal Game 7 in their first round series vs. the Cleveland Cavaliers, Raptors forward Brandon Ingram was spotted in a walking boot during his team’s Sunday morning shoot around.
According to the team, he is currently dealing with “right heel inflammation” and is officially listed as questionable. Ingram played only 11 minutes during Game 5 before leaving Wednesday’s contest. He then sat out the team’s Game 6 OT thriller which set up the climactic showdown on Sunday night.
In his first full season with the team, Ingram averaged 21.5 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 3.7 assists per game across 77 contests this year. As a result, he was named to the NBA All-Star game. However, he’s been largely held in check throughout the series vs. Cleveland, seeing his scoring dip to just 12 points per night alongside a paltry 32.8 field goal percentage.
Toronto will now face an interest dilemma ahead of their matchup tonight, as they’ll need to gamble on which version of Ingram they’ll be getting. A compromised scoring wing who isn’t scoring isn’t exactly a major addition to the lineup. But sitting out one of their best players from the regular season if he’s good to go is a big swing.
Complication matters even more is that Ingram’s minutes, which have largely gone to Ja’Kobe Walter in his absence, have resulted in a major scoring upgrade in the small sample size. With the 28 year old sidelined, Walter saw 43 minutes of game time, scoring 24 points on 7 of 13 shooting from the floor, and 4-9 from 3 point range.
Does the team look to get Walter involved in other ways if Ingram is healthy? Or do they slow play things and use him as a “break in case of emergency” player for Game 7?
Fans will find out Sunday night at 7:30pm ET, with the winner of that game set to take on the winner of the Pistons vs. Magic series which will tip off at 3:30pm ET.
Photo: Luke. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.