TORONTO — Just when the off-season vision of the Toronto Raptors was finally taking shape in real-time, a chill went through Scotiabank Arena.
It was hard to miss Scottie Barnes — the Raptors player upon whom the hopes for any kind of success the season might bring lie heaviest — running up the tunnel to the locker room, huddled over holding his left hand.
Barnes plays a rugged style, but he’s been vulnerable to hand and finger problems. He missed the last 22 games of the 2023-24 season with a broken bone in his hand that required surgery. He said earlier this season that a lot of the problems he had shooting last season (he was a career-worst 27.1 per cent from three) were in part due to multiple finger injuries he played through.
There might have been something to that. Coming into the Raptors’ meeting Tuesday night against the Milwaukee Bucks, Barnes was shooting 46.9 per cent from deep on 4.6 attempts per game, to go along with 20.6 points, 7.4 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 1.4 blocks and 1.3 steals. It’s the kind of production that keeps the Raptors excited about Barnes’ upside, even now in his fifth season. It’s all-NBA level play from the one-time all-star.
And if the three-point shooting is real, alongside all the other things he can do on a basketball court?
“The league is in trouble then, I think,” said Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic. “He’s such a player that he plays with so much force on both ends of floor. He’s a good rim finisher … he can handle the ball. He is 23, 24, (Barnes turned 24 in August), whatever he’s right now, he’s not even close to being where he’s going to be in four or five years from now. That kid is just improving so much and adding so much to his game and … things are going to click and he’s going to be a big-time player.”
The first half of what ended up being a comfortable 128-100 win for the Raptors — their third straight to even their record at 4-4 — was as good a demonstration as any.
Not only was Barnes the primary defender on the Bucks do-it-all sledgehammer Giannis Antetokounmpo, but he also had 13 points (including a pair of threes), three rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocks in 13 minutes before he got his hand tangled under teammate Sandro Mamukelashvili’s arm while they were collapsing on Antetokounmpo in the paint.
Barnes doubled over immediately and beelined for the locker room.
“I didn’t know what happened,” said Mamukelashvili, who was excellent off the bench Tuesday, finishing with 15 points and seven rebounds, including 3-of-5 from deep. “But he’s our leader … especially when you play a guy like Giannis, you need somebody who never backs down from a challenge. He screams, he flexes, he has that energy.“
At the moment Barnes left the game, the Raptors were as close to fulfilling the vision those with an optimistic outlook on the team’s potential had seen all season.
Not only was Barnes playing elite basketball on both ends, but struggling point guard Immanuel Quickley was in the midst of a much-needed mini-breakout on his way to 15 points and seven assists (though his 2-of-7 mark from deep won’t do much to help his three-point percentage, which was 27.8 to start the night).
RJ Barrett (23 points, six rebounds, four assists on 6-of-12 shooting) continued his strong run of play as a gap-filling secondary option on offence, and Jakob Poeltl, back in the lineup after missing three games with a back strain, looked as comfortable as he has at any point this season.
Caveats apply: The Bucks — who beat the Raptors on their home opener on Oct. 24th — were playing on the second night of a back-to-back after an emotional, buzzer-beating win in Indianapolis, but having a successful season in the NBA means taking advantage of those kinds of opportunities, and the Raptors did just that.
“I mean, obviously you don’t want to put too much (emphasis) on one game,” said Poeltl, who was playing on a minutes restriction yet finished with eight points and nine rebounds in 20 minutes. “But I feel we’ve had a pretty good run these last three games or so, where we look better … but we got to bring that even when the team comes out 100 per cent, so that will be a challenge, and hopefully we’ll continue to grow.”
But all of that could easily be undone if Barnes were to miss, say a month or six weeks or more with a significant hand injury.
But now the good news: After leaving the game for X-rays, Barnes was back in the lineup to start the third quarter, having been diagnosed only with a strain.
And the Raptors and Barnes picked up right where they left off. After bracing for the worst, Barnes — his thumb wrapped up — helped the Raptors deliver a laugher.
He was the one whipping the ball around the perimeter so Mamukelashvili could hit his third three of the game in the third quarter, well-timed as the Bucks were beginning to nibble into what had been a 19-point halftime lead for the Raptors.
“A lot of times when you have stars, they only think about themselves,” said Mamukelashvili. “But I feel like he’s so focussed on the team and getting everybody in the right spot … he was like ‘shoot the ball’ and then I made a three and he was super happy for me.
“I’m really glad nothing was wrong with him.”
Barnes showed his true versatility a few plays later when — after missing a baseline jumper — he sprinted past everyone on both teams to get in position to lock up Antetokounmpo just over half. He met the powerful Bucks star with his chest when Antetokounmpo tried to drive right and had such good position Barnes drew an offensive foul.
Later, in the fourth quarter, Barnes closed the door on even the remote chance of a Bucks comeback as he hit a three from Brandon Ingram (Barnes finished with 23 points, six assists, four steals and two blocks while converting three of his five three-point attempts) and then converted a three-point play off a Jamal Shead steal to put the Raptors up by 27.
He’s night was done then, not because of injury, but because he had his fingerprints — strained thumb and all — on every aspect of one of the most impressive Raptors efforts yet this season.
A Gary Trent Jr. fan: Milwaukee Bucks coach Doc Rivers has plenty of reasons to appreciate the former Raptor, not the least of which is Trent Jr. has made 41 per cent of his three-point attempts as a Buck. “He’s quirky as heck and I love that about him. I think that’s what the whole team likes about him. He is him, in his own skin every day, and I think our guys really appreciate that … and he’s a shot-maker. I think the best part I like about him is at the end of the game, when the ball goes to him, I like it. He wants the shot and there’s not a lot of guys like that.” Trent Jr. was 2-of-4 from three in his 21 minutes.
Rajakovic approves: The biggest basketball story in Toronto Tuesday was when the Toronto Tempo, the WNBA expansion franchise that is scheduled to start play this summer, formally presented their first head coach: Sandy Brundello. Later in the day, the two-time WNBA champion and long-time coach of the Australian national team was sitting courtside at Scotiabank Arena and got a nice ovation when she was introduced to the Raptors crowd. Among those happy to see her was Rajakovic, who was an assistant with the Phoenix Suns when Brondello was head coach of the Mercury. “Toronto got a great one … amazing coach, amazing human being, a lot of, obviously, experience. She’s going to do a great job with the Tempo … we’re going to grab a dinner tomorrow (Wednesday) together to catch up.”
Jak is back: The benefits were evident, such as when — in the first quarter — he not only screened off Bucks shot-blocking centre Myles Turner, giving Quickley a clear path to the rim, but got in position for the putback when Quickley’s lay-up rolled off. Poeltl looked as spry as he has all season when he slipped a screen he was setting for Barrett and rolled down the lane for a left-handed dunk over Cole Anthony, or when he slid laterally to string out Bucks guard Ryan Rollins a couple of plays later. His recovery is still a work-in-progress, however. “I think I’m still a little bit away from 100 per cent,” he said. “But I’m pretty happy with how today went. There were a couple of phases where it stiffened up a little bit … I’m definitely going to have to put in a bunch of work behind the scenes. Hopefully I’ll get to the point where it won’t affect me during games.”