For the Raptors, an arena evacuation and the Pacers were no cause for alarm

Fred VanVleet was going through the laundry list of things that OG Anunoby brings to the Raptors: the shooting, the floor spacing, the defensive abilities, the experience.

And then he kind of paused for half a beat.

“He’s also a really good NBA player,” VanVleet said.

That’s the truth of it, as a weird Saturday night at Scotiabank Arena proved.

In a game delayed for about 70 minutes because of an electrical fire that forced the evacuation of about 20,000 fans from Scotiabank Arena — then completed with the stands empty — Anunoby had 11 points in the first nine minutes as the Raptors throttled the Indiana Pacers 131-91 on one of the strangest nights imaginable.

The orderly evacuation of the arena came with 4:05 left in the second quarter, after two sections were originally emptied when flames were spotted coming from a speaker. Toronto Fire Services asked that the building be emptied, the players sat around for an hour and the game was finished with a truncated halftime break.

“I was just in the lounge watching a live shot of what was going on in the arena … waiting for updates,” coach Nick Nurse said. “They gave us several updates — like 30 minutes they thought it was going to go down, and all that stuff. Then it went pretty quick, really.

“They wanted to only warm up four minutes, but we decided 10 just to make sure guys got loose.”

In his second game back after missing 15 with a fractured finger, Anunoby helped set an early tone as the Raptors put the game away early and ultimately moved into sixth place in the NBA’s Eastern Conference.

“(It’s) good that it’s been seamless. He hasn’t had to hunt shots or wonder when he can take them,” Nurse said. “He’s getting some good kickouts and they’re sharing it. It’s good to see. I like when he’s at the end of kickouts.”

Coupled with Chicago’s win in Cleveland, the Raptors moved past the Cavaliers. They remain just a game behind the fifth-place Bulls.

The fire, which began in a speaker hanging far above the court at the east end of the 23-year-old arena, was just another weird moment in a season full of them for the Raptors.

They’ve had games postponed because of COVID-19 and they’ve played in empty arenas, so resuming Saturday with no one other than concession, security and arena staff spread out around the spacious building wasn’t entirely out of the normal.

The delay also got VanVleet some extra rest. He did not return once his sore right knee had an hour off. It was a prudent move not to make him fire up his body for a relatively meaningless 28 minutes of basketball when the Raptors are facing two huge home games against Boston on Monday and Minnesota on Wednesday.

VanVleet ended up playing only 17 minutes with five points and three assists, watching the resumption of the game in street clothes from the bench.

There has been a level of consternation among fans about the Raptors seemingly “playing down” to the level of opponents, at least against teams with less-than-stellar records.

Losses to Detroit (three times) and Orlando are often brought up in those discussions, which is fine as long as road wins in places such as Phoenix and Denver are taken into consideration.

And the point coach Nick Nurse made before the game — after mentioning such variables as the schedule, the injuries, the various vagaries that come up in a long season — is that maybe it should be looked at from the other angle.