Some bad news out of the festive carnival that was the Bay last night. Midway through the second quarter, Jonas Valanciunas was backing down Draymond Green, who took a swipe at the ball across Valanciunas’ body. Valanciunas immediately hit the deck in a heap. His pain was audible, and he quickly left the arena for an x-ray and surgery.
Jonas Valanciunas underwent surgery on his dislocated left thumb and will be in a cast for four weeks.
— Blake Murphy (@BlakeMurphyODC) December 13, 2018
Though all injuries come at bad times, Valanciunas was playing some of his best ball of the season. He had notched 6 points and 7 rebounds in only 8 minutes against the Warriors, and it seemed as though he was making a case that he is very much playable against Golden State. Last week, he scored 26 and 24 points against Philadelphia and Brooklyn, respectively.
On the season, Valanciunas is averaging 12.8 points, 7.2 rebounds, 1.0 assists, 0.8 blocks, 0.4 steals, and 1.3 turnovers per game. His points-per-game and field goal percentage of 57.5 are both career-highs, though he has only started in a career-low 10 of 30 games. Before this season, Valanciunas had started in 434 of the 440 games in which he’d played.
The usual bench role seemed to be an improving fit for Valanciunas. After a rough start to the season for the bench lineup – likely little of which was due to Valanciunas’ play – it had been playing much better recently, a poor showing against Milwaukee excepted. Nick Nurse’s decision to sometimes stagger Pascal Siakam’s minutes and play him alongside Valanciunas gave the lineup extra creation and transition oomph. Partially as a result, Valanciunas has notched a positive plus/minus in four of his last five games.
Valanciunas’ minutes will be filled mostly by Greg Monroe. Monroe has very solid career per-game averages of 13.5 points. 8.5 rebounds, and 2.2 assists, and he is far from over the hill. He is a terrific low-post scorer and passer, and he is a luxury as the third center on the team. He performed admirably last night, scoring 5 points and grabbing 5 rebounds in only 7 minutes. Two-way contract holder Chris Boucher will likely also see time with the Raptors. Fresh off setting a 905 franchise record 47 points against the Delaware Blue Coats last night, Boucher has been recalled to the Raptors and will likely be available in Portland tomorrow.
