Valanciunas sustains ankle injury, X-rays negative
Toronto Raptors center Jonas Valanciunas sustained a sprained right ankle in the second half of Game 3 against the Miami Heat.
Valanciunas landed awkwardly after challenging a layup by Dwyane Wade and limped to the bench to have his ankle re-taped. He tested his ankle with the assistance of trainers, but was eventually ruled out.
Here's the Valanciunas injury, rolled his ankle pic.twitter.com/XJnFT5qMaL
— CJ Fogler (@cjzero) May 7, 2016
Fortunately, an X-ray of his ankle came back negative.
Before going down, Valanciunas led the way for the Raptors with 16 points and 12 rebounds in just 22 minutes of play. That came on the heels of a dominant performance down the stretch of Game 2 to help tie the series at 1-1.
Related: Valanciunas bails out DeRozan, Lowry in Game 2
As it happens, the Heat are also dealing with an injured center of their own. Hassan Whiteside sprained his right knee in the first half of Game 3.
The Raptors leaned on defensive specialist Bismack Biyombo and Patrick Patterson to soak up minutes at center in Valanciunas' absence.