Scottie Barnes rescues the Raptors in the fourth
Scottie Barnes, Precious Achiuwa, and Gary Trent jr. saved the Toronto Raptors from defeat. Not just defeat — perhaps total collapse. The Charlotte Hornets are so bad it’s laughable, and losing to them would have been a new low, at least for this season. The Hornets are a non-entity, a team perhaps most famous in recent years for losing in the Play-In game by a combined 57 points across two consecutive seasons. Then they went 27-55 the following season, and this season had an even worse record entering the game with the Raptors. Oh, and on top of all that, they were missing their three best players against the Raptors. So, yeah, losing would have been inexcusable.
But the Raptors didn’t lose to the Hornets, try as they might. And they certainly did try. But Barnes and a bench group dragged the Raptors back from the dead, finally convinced the crowd and the team to care, and put forward the minimal effort required to beat Leaky Black and the Hornets.
“Scottie with [the] second unit allows him to be more [of] a voice on [the] offensive and defensive end, we can more feature him there,” said Darko Rajakovic before the game.
“He’s bringing the ball up the floor and initiating the offense. I think all of this that he’s growing through is a part of a bigger picture for him and his development. And I think he’s embracing it really well and doing a really good job for such a young player and I think it really, really helps his development to go to the next level of players in this league.”
Barnes simply does everything. Alongside Trent and Achiuwa, they drove a fourth-quarter comeback against the Hornets that turned into one of the loudest nights of the season so far in Scotiabank. Achiuwa was dunking. Trent was sniping. And Barnes was the mastermind behind it all.
The trio, by the way, had a positive net rating in 2022-23 and were one of the winningest trios on the Raptors in 2021-22. They entered the Charlotte game with a net rating of negative-15. Their inability to own pace against other teams and create efficient offense has been a pillar of the Raptors’ slow start. Their ability to own pace and score in flurries against Charlotte was a pillar of the win. If that trio is back on track, this relatively meaningless game against a terrible Charlotte team would pay huge dividends.
If you only watched the fourth quarter, you would not have missed anything. The team sleepwalked through the game. In fact, the only worthwhile moments, from Toronto’s perspective, were Barnes’ attempts to spark a comeback — before actually accomplishing it.
He tried his absolute best throughout the night to rouse the sleeping Raptors. He tried it with LeBron Jamesian blocks, but multiple were called goaltends, and the Raptors managed to ruin the best one; a monstrous, duck-your-head-you’re-so-high block from Barnes in the second quarter led to a 3-point foul from Chris Boucher on the ensuing inbounds play.
He tried it with transition passing, spraying the ball to the corners before being called for non-existent offensive fouls after players slid under him.
He achieved it with everything in the fourth quarter. Winning jump balls. Driving and tossing in his away-from-the-rim hooks from distance. Stealing rebounds on both ends over multiple Hornets. Locking up late clock. Dumping dimes down to his bigs on drives. His ability to do it all can make some choices hard, even if not for the Raptors.
“What Scottie did there really kept us in the game, and he kept pushing us forward,” said Rajakovic, ostensibly of his rebounding, but truthfully of the whole package. “He was really really high energy and upbeat in all timeouts, and talking to guys, and trying to lift everybody.”
He finally got his game-defining block, annihilating a Terry Rozier layup before gathering an airballed OG Anunoby triple in transition and dunking it through the rim.
“He is a player that makes those type of highlight defensive plays, is that a steal and go to the other side of the floor for a transition dunk. Is that halfcourt blocking a shot,” said Rajakovic. “But those are momentum-changing plays in a game, when you take a charge or block a shot. That can definitely swing the mood in the whole arena. I thought that [block] sparked not just our team but also fans tonight.”
Barnes was more concise: “I finally got one.”
Barnes wasn’t the only player who had a solid game. Siakam actually finished with more points and assists than him, even if he was less integral to Toronto’s renewed sense of purpose. The two have been quietly succeeding in the same games for weeks now. But if Barnes hadn’t willed the Raptors back into the game, there would have been no silver linings.
Right now, the majority of the Raptors are a mess. They did their best, for three quarters, to lose to Terry Rozier and the Greensboro Swarm. They couldn’t defend in transition. They turned over the ball with aplomb on one end and couldn’t rebound on the other. They didn’t match up, and got lost everywhere, and showed no physicality or interest. Poeltl played one of the worst games of his career in just 15 minutes of game time — and that was probably too many. Barnes made it all not matter. He rescued the Raptors from ignominy. For much of the game, he and Trent and Achiuwa were the only ones bothering to grab defensive rebounds. He was the only one trying to inject pace or passion into the game.
He was enough. He was enough against the Hornets. If he can become enough against NBA teams, then this season will all be worth it.
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