{"id":530319,"date":"2026-01-11T21:53:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T21:53:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/530319\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T21:53:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T21:53:11","slug":"atlantic-notes-poeltl-raptors-agbaji-brown-mpj-thomas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/530319\/","title":{"rendered":"Atlantic Notes: Poeltl, Raptors, Agbaji, Brown, MPJ, Thomas"},"content":{"rendered":"

Starting Raptors center Jakob Poeltl<\/a> has made one brief appearance since mid-December due to a lower back strain and will miss his 10th straight game on Sunday. While the Austrian big man has been cleared for contact work and has been ramping up his activity, he\u2019s still experiencing discomfort during workouts, sources tell Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In another story for Sportsnet, Grange reports<\/a> that Poeltl\u2019s recovery progress has \u201cstalled.\u201d The 30-year-old told Grange his workout in Boston on Thursday was \u201cso-so\u201d and Grange hears Friday\u2019s session wasn\u2019t much better.<\/p>\n

Poeltl\u2019s ongoing back issue is partly why the Raptors are actively looking for help in the middle, Grange writes.\u00a0Goga Bitadze<\/a> is one player Toronto is monitoring, according to Grange, who points out that Moritz Wagner<\/a>\u2018s return<\/a> and Orlando\u2019s future cap situation could make the Magic center expendable.<\/p>\n

We have more from the Atlantic Division:<\/p>\n

Raptors guard\/forward Ochai Agbaji<\/a> received a DNP-CD on Friday at Boston even though the team was playing without Scottie Barnes<\/a> and Brandon Ingram<\/a>. Agbaji has been involved in trade rumors due to his $6.4MM expiring contract and declining play, and he acknowledges several young wings on the roster have struggled to find consistency this season. \u201cIt\u2019s obviously been tough. Some guys are trying to fall into that role and find their rhythm too,\u201d Agbaji told Grange<\/a>. \u201c\u2026 We kind of see that and everyone in the room sees that too, and how valuable we are to the team and what we can bring to the team, so it\u2019s just a matter of knowing your role and trying to be the best at it. (But) I feel like our bench \u2013 our total team \u2013 yes, we play our good basketball, but I feel like there\u2019s so much more to us, individually and as a team collectively, that we just haven\u2019t shown in one game or over a span of, like, a week, or anything like that.\u201d
\nCeltics star Jaylen Brown<\/a> ripped the officials, including calling out crew chief Curtis Blair by name, following Saturday\u2019s loss to San Antonio, writes Tim Bontemps of ESPN<\/a>. The Spurs attempted 20 free throws, compared to four for the Celtics. \u201cIf we can\u2019t get to the free throw line and teams are allowed to be physical and bump us off our spots, etc., then it\u2019s hard to win games like that,\u201d Brown said. \u201cWe shot four free throws tonight and lost the game by four. Not to say that\u2019s the whole game, the whole story. We got to be better in spots. I got to be better in spots. But goddamn. I\u2019m driving to the basket. I\u2019m physical. I don\u2019t flop. I don\u2019t shy away from contact. I go up strong. I\u2019m athletic. And nothing. Zero free throws tonight. The inconsistency is f\u2014ing crazy. Give me the fine.\u201d
\nNets forward Michael Porter Jr.<\/a>, who is being held out of Sunday\u2019s game at Memphis for rest purposes, is having a career year for Brooklyn and his head coach believes he deserves to be recognized for his strong play, according to C.J. Holmes of The New York Daily News<\/a>. \u201cI mean, he\u2019s an All-Star,\u201d Jordi Fernandez said. \u201cHe\u2019s played like an All-Star, you just got to watch him play, and how much better he\u2019s gotten.\u201d
\nCam Thomas<\/a> has been coming off the bench for the Nets since he returned from a hamstring strain and Fernandez has been pleased with the fifth-year guard\u2019s recent performances, as Andrew Crane of The New York Post<\/a> relays. \u201cI\u2019m very happy with the second group,\u201d Fernandez said after the Nets lost 121-105 to the Clippers on Friday. \u201cThey\u2019re trying to play the right way. I\u2019m happy and trying to focus more on [Thomas] because that\u2019s the superpower that he has, and defenses have to focus on him. And then he\u2019ll figure it out when he scores and takes the shot, when he passes the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Starting Raptors center Jakob Poeltl has made one brief appearance since mid-December due to a lower back strain…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":530320,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3724],"tags":[7,959,875,1399,78,562,10513],"class_list":{"0":"post-530319","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-cam-thomas","10":"tag-goga-bitadze","11":"tag-jakob-poeltl","12":"tag-jaylen-brown","13":"tag-michael-porter-jr","14":"tag-ochai-agbaji"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115878691524556034","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=530319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530319\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/530320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=530319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=530319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=530319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}