Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse talks to Fred VanVleet during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Milwaukee Bucks Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021, in Milwaukee. A greatly reduced Raptors team will host the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday in Toronto's temporary home of Tampa, Fla. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, Morry Gash

The Toronto Raptors had largely dodged COVID-19 for the first half of an NBA season reeling from the global pandemic.

But the Raptors are feeling the full force of it now, preparing to host the Detroit Pistons with a skeleton roster and coaching staff.

Starters Fred VanVleet, Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby, plus Malachi Flynn and Patrick McCaw have all been ruled out of Toronto's rescheduled game Wednesday against visiting Detroit, along with head coach Nick Nurse and most of his coaching staff.

GM Bobby Webster was asked what he's learned from the team's first major brush with the virus.

"It’s what you can imagine," Webster said in a Zoom call with media on Tuesday night. "It's the emotional stress of having colleagues that potentially, obviously, can be sick. The enormous amount of stress everyone feels, everyone's walking a bit on eggshells here in the locker room and you can't necessarily be as friendly . . .

"The basketball will go on, we'll play the games, but just to maintain everybody’s belonging and familiarity is really important."

Assistant coach Sergio Scariolo, who guided Toronto to a 122-111 win over Houston on Friday, will act as head coach again Wednesday.

Webster said players were cleared to do some individual work on the court Tuesday.

The big takeaway, he said, was that the team's had "multiple days of no new cases."

"It's been a tough couple of days, to get to here and be able to practise, we had to clear a number of hurdles," Webster said.

Jalen Harris and recently-signed big man Donta Hall join the team from its G League affiliate, Raptors 905.

The game was originally slated for Tuesday at Tampa's Amalie Arena -- the Raptors' home this season due to Canada's border restrictions and COVID-19 health protocols in Ontario -- but was postponed due to what the league said was "positive test results and ongoing contact tracing within the Raptors organization." Sunday's game against the Chicago Bulls was also postponed.

The Pistons plane was delayed more than two hours leaving Detroit as the Raptors awaited the green light from the NBA.

Toronto had been one of just four remaining teams in the league that hadn't had a game postponed until Sunday's game against visiting Chicago.

The league has now had 31 games scrapped due to too few healthy players. There was a sense of not if but when it would hit the Raptors, particularly making their homes in Florida, a COVID-19 hotspot.

Assistants Adrian Griffin, Jama Mahlalela and Jon Goodwillie are all still sidelined under health and safety protocols, while Webster said one other assistant who coached Friday is now unavailable. He didn't reveal who, but it would be either Jim Sann, Mark Tyndale, or Jamaal Magloire.

The Raptors at least have some time off coming up. Their last scheduled game before the NBA all-star break is Thursday at Boston.

Toronto tips off the second half of the season March 11 against the visiting Atlanta Hawks.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 2, 2021.

News from © The Canadian Press, 2021