Reggie Evans Injures Foot

Jay Triano couldn’t find the right description but everything he said about Reggie Evans was couched in the worst possible terms.

The menacing Raptors rebounder, the veteran who was emerging as a leader of a young team, had left the TD Garden on crutches and no one knows when he’ll be off them after he injured his right foot in Toronto’s 110-101 loss to the Boston Celtics.

“It’s broken, a fracture, a break, I don’t know,” a downcast Triano said. “X-rays were positive, I have no idea of timeline or anything else.”

Evans, who averages nearly 12 rebounds a night and is by far Toronto’s most effective player on the boards, was injured with about six minutes left in the third quarter and hobbled to the bench.

He had the x-rays in the arena and got the bad news there, departing for the team bus on crutches before the post-game media session began. He missed 50 games last season with an injury to his other foot but was among Toronto’s best players before Friday’s mishap.“He went up for a rebound and I guess he came down funny on it and felt something and knew he was in trouble,” said Triano.

Already relatively thin up front, the Raptors are likely to move Amir Johnson into Evans’s starting role and ask the recently acquired Peja Stojakovic to play some power forward after spending his entire career as a small forward.

“Joey Dorsey’s been working hard and he’s going to have a chance to play,” said Triano. “We talked about trying to find minutes for Peja and we’re going to have to use that, Amir Johnson can slide over into a starting role which has happened in the past for us.

“I feel bad for Reggie because he’s been playing very well but as a team we have guys who are ready to fill in for him.”

Johnson, while an energetic sort and a solid contributor at times, will now be asked to log longer minutes and stay out of foul trouble while trying to replicate some of the things Evans brings.

“Of course his hustle, his rebounds and his hard play,” Johnson said of what they’ll lose in Evans’s absence. “But when he comes out, we can’t put our heads down, we’ve just got to keep on playing and bring it up another notch.”

The reliance on Stojakovic, who had 13 points in 16 minutes after Evans went out, will be a gamble. Toronto will lose bulk and rebounding expertise but the Raptors can hope he’ll stretch defences and provide a unique look.