Raptors’ Fred VanVleet to miss Game 3 with shoulder injury

Toronto-Raptors

Toronto Raptors guard Fred VanVleet pauses on the court. (Wilfredo Lee/AP)

The Toronto Raptors will take the floor against the Washington Wizards on Friday without Fred VanVleet, the team announced.

The backup guard briefly returned to the lineup for Game 2 of the two teams’ playoff series after being forced out in the Raptors’ regular season finale. He missed Game 1 as Toronto took a 1-0 lead against the Wizards.

Toronto took the second game of the series as well, earning a 130-119 victory over Washington. They’ll look to repeat that performance on Friday, but will once again be without one of their top bench performers, who averaged 8.6 points per game in 2017-18 while shooting 41.4 per cent from three-point range.

With a 2-0 lead in the series going into Friday’s game in Washington, the Raptors are holding VanVleet out to give his shoulder time to heal, head coach Dwane Casey told Sportsnet’s Michael Grange.

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