Late in last night’s 105-92 Toronto win in game 3, Fred VanVleet was the recipient of a hard elbow to the face. The collision happened on Shaun Livingston’s way down after a shooting foul.
It was quite the hit, as evidenced by how long VanVleet was on the ground. He laid on the floor for a minute or so as blood could be seen running down the side of his face.
VanVleet – who has had a clutch postseason run – would require 7 stitches but was cleared to return. He never ended up actually entering the game due to the Raptors’ rather comfortable advantage, but his grit was appreciated by the 50 Canadian basketball fans in the world.
The most wild aspect of this whole situation was that it initially appeared as though VanVleet lost a fucking tooth! The broadcast zoomed in on what just about looked like an entire tooth. Thankfully it was just a chip, but still brutal nonetheless.
I find it kind of whack how nobody seemed to care about a tooth being on the floor. If the broadcast noticed it, couldn’t the ref? Couldn’t any of the numerous people who were around VanVleet noticed? Or maybe, I don’t know, someone could have been like “yo, this guy is missing a tooth so it’s gotta be somewhere”.
Nope. They just said fuck it and played on.
That tooth could easily be stuck to someone’s jersey or shoes right now and we would never know. Well maybe Kawhi.exe would be able to tell by scanning it, but he’s more than likely on the charger right now.
Anyways, VanVleet posted on Instagram saying he’s all good and will be in action on Monday. He said he’s gonna get the tooth fixed, and that’s his choice. However, I personally think he should embrace it and make it part of his brand.
Just think about it for a second. Before medicine was advanced, if you got messed up you stayed messed up. Lost your eye in a bar fight? You just became “one-eyed Pete” or some shit for the rest of your life. Doesn’t have the same ring to it as “one-eyed VanVleet”, but still cool. I’m not saying he should do one thing or the other, I’m just pointing out that “punished VanVleet” would help Toronto recover from the corniness Drake has bestowed upon them. That’s all.
The Raptors have a chance to finish the series on Monday night.