Barrett won the battle of Duke stars against a rebuilding team that was awful offensively.<\/p>\n
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Published Mar 08, 2026 \u00a0\u2022\u00a0 5 minute read<\/p>\n
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Or sign-in<\/a> if you have an account.<\/p>\n They needed that one.<\/p>\n Advertisement 2<\/p>\n This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.<\/p>\n THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY<\/p>\n Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.<\/p>\n Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account.Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on.Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists.Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists.Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword.<\/p>\n SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES<\/p>\n Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.<\/p>\n Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account.Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on.Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists.Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists.Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword.<\/p>\n REGISTER \/ SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES<\/p>\n Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.<\/p>\n Access articles from across Canada with one account.Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.Enjoy additional articles per month.Get email updates from your favourite authors.<\/p>\n THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK.<\/p>\n Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.<\/p>\n Access articles from across Canada with one accountShare your thoughts and join the conversation in the commentsEnjoy additional articles per monthGet email updates from your favourite authors<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n After dropping four of five games and four straight at home, the Toronto Raptors overwhelmed the visiting Dallas Mavericks on Sunday night.<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n RJ Barrett was spectacular, scoring a season-high 31 points and rarely missing shots, Scottie Barnes was solid all around, and Jakob Poeltl went 7-for-8, while Dallas was wretched offensively in the 122-92 Raptors win.<\/p>\n The Mavericks struggled to get to 40% from the field or 20% on three-pointers (falling short on both counts in the end), committed 10 more turnovers than the Raptors and didn\u2019t take advantage of their edge in size at most positions.<\/p>\n Rookie Cooper Flagg impressed with 17 points, seven rebounds, six assists and three blocks, while Daniel Gafford went 10-for-10 for 21 points, but the team really struggled to score.<\/p>\n Advertisement 3<\/p>\n This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic had said Saturday was one of the team\u2019s best practices of the year and, in some ways, it showed a day later. As Barrett put it, \u201cthat translated. When we play like that, we\u2019re hard to beat.\u201d<\/p>\n Toronto now heads to the road for games at Houston and New Orleans.<\/p>\n More takeaways from an easy one for the home side:<\/p>\n BARRETT BREAKING OUT<\/p>\n Barrett had bounced back pretty quickly earlier in the season after missing about a month due to injury, but hadn\u2019t quite looked like himself after missing seven games in late-January. Defending had been a particular struggle, but even offensively, he\u2019d seemed a tad off for a while.<\/p>\n But he was the best player on the floor Sunday, absolutely terrorizing the Mavericks. He admitted afterward he continues to feel healthier, which leads to more confidence.<\/p>\n Your Midday Sun<\/p>\n Thanks for signing up!<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n Advertisement 4<\/p>\n This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n When the Raptors run they are at their best and Barrett is a key contributor in the open floor, but he also added three three-pointers.<\/p>\n Barrett was coming off one of his best games of the year against Minnesota and had been strong offensively against the Knicks before that and against Washington the game prior. In fact, he had been strong in four of Toronto\u2019s previous five before levelling up against Dallas.<\/p>\n With Brandon Ingram (he was recovering from a stomach bug) and Immanuel Quickley off with their shooting, Barrett\u2019s play was badly needed.<\/p>\n He also moved past 8,000 career points, becoming just the eighth Canadian to achieve that feat and he\u2019s the youngest of the active Canadians (Andrew Wiggins, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jamal Murray, Kelly Olynyk and Dillon Brooks) to get to 8,000.<\/p>\n Advertisement 5<\/p>\n This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been able to be blessed to be in this position and to be doing this for some years now,\u201d Barrett said. \u201cIt\u2019s a thing that I don\u2019t know, you play basketball, scoring is a part of it, part of being able to win the game. I just try to play winning basketball as best I can so those things come along with it. I\u2019m very thankful,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Barrett is also second to Gilgeous-Alexander\u2019s 25.2 career points per game (all averages before Sunday) amongst Canadians at 18.8, just ahead of Murray\u2019s 18.7 per game. Wiggins averages 15.9, Dillon Brooks 14.8, while Steve Nash, the total Canadian points leader, 14.3. Told by the Toronto Sun he\u2019s second in Canadian PPG, Barrett said he was unaware, but smiled.<\/p>\n At the podium he had said: \u201cI\u2019m very proud, very proud Canadian. I think doing it for the Raptors is even more special. So just, you know, hope that I\u2019m able to continue this,\u201d Barrett said.<\/p>\n Advertisement 6<\/p>\n This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n FINDING THE MARK<\/p>\n Barnes turned heads with his outside shooting to start the season, hitting half of his first 24 attempts in six October games. He followed up by making a solid 37% of his 46 November attempts, but it\u2019s been a different story since. Barnes dipped to 28.6% on 49 December attempts, to 11.4% (4-for-35) in January and 16.7% (3-for-18) in February, the worst stretch of his career from beyond the arc.<\/p>\n Outside shooting might never become a strength for Barnes, but he can\u2019t be a complete non-threat the way he was in January and February. The good news for the Raptors is Barnes is starting to improve significantly from three this month. He went 1-for-3 against New York on Tuesday, 2-for-3 against Minnesota on Thursday and nailed his first look, from the corner.<\/p>\n Advertisement 7<\/p>\n This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n Barnes later hit another and finished 2-for-4.<\/p>\n CAPTURE THE FLAGG<\/p>\n Flagg had been listed as questionable for the game and it actually came down to how he felt after going through his pre-game warmup. Happily for Canadian basketball fans, the teenage star decided he was good and suited up.<\/p>\n It would have been tough had Flagg been unable to play. Fans here have already been denied the lone visits by some of the NBA\u2019s biggest superstars this season. Hamilton\u2019s own Gilgeous-Alexander, perhaps on his way to a second straight MVP award, was injured when Oklahoma City played at Toronto, Luka Doncic was out because his child was about to be born and Nikola Jokic, a three-time MVP, was hurt when Denver visited Toronto.<\/p>\n Flagg showed off his defensive prowess with a monster early block on an Immanuel Quickley attempt. Less than a minute later Flagg skied to throw down a two-handed alley-oop, drawing oohs from the crowd. He also made some strong early passes for Mavericks scores, showcasing his all-around abilities. Later he spectacularly blocked Poeltl, a play so surprising it was initially ruled goaltending, though video review overturned it after a Dallas challenge.<\/p>\n Advertisement 8<\/p>\n This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n Flagg talked afterward of not responding to Toronto\u2019s physicality well and to trying to speed things up a bit too much.<\/p>\n Flagg was the easy first choice in a loaded 2025 draft and has looked the part. He\u2019s already a plus defender and has had a 49-point and 42-point game, five with at least 30. Plus, he\u2019s averaging over 20 points and shooting 47.3% from the field. That\u2019s solid for any player, let alone a teenager.<\/p>\n The 2025 crop also boasts Charlotte\u2019s Kon Knueppel, who is having the best shooting season ever by a rookie, Philadelphia\u2019s explosive VJ Edgecombe, San Antonio\u2019s big guard Dylan Harper, Memphis wing Cedric Coward and Toronto\u2019s Collin Murray-Boyles (who like Flagg defends like few rookies). Derik Queen, Ace Bailey, Yanic Konan Niederhauser, Jeremiah Fears, Tre Johnson, Maxime Raynaud and Nolan Traore have also had their moments.<\/p>\n Advertisement 9<\/p>\n This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n It\u2019s a good class.<\/p>\n DUKE WELL-REPRESENTED<\/p>\n If you\u2019re a Duke fan, there were plenty of familiar players on display Sunday. Even with Kyrie Irving (picked first in 2011) and Dereck Lively (12th in 2023) out for the Mavericks, the team still had Flagg and Marvin Bagley III (the second pick in 2018) in the lineup, while Toronto had Ingram (second in 2016) and Barrett (third in 2019) starting.<\/p>\n For years Kentucky was the pre-eminent NCAA factory of future high-level NBA talent, but Duke is pretty clearly now the cream of the crop in that department.<\/p>\n Flagg said he has known Barrett for a long time, but it actually goes back beyond his year at Duke. Both played some high school ball at Montverde, the Florida powerhouse where Scottie Barnes also attended. Flagg said Barrett practised with the team while he was there.<\/p>\n @WolstatSun<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n Share this article in your social network<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Breadcrumb Trail Links SportsBasketballNBAToronto Raptors Barrett won the battle of Duke stars against a rebuilding team that was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":523803,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194291],"tags":[49,48,3302],"class_list":["post-523802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-toronto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=523802"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523802\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/523803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=523802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=523802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=523802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"barrett](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/CP175943422-e1773020388536.jpg\")
Raptors’ RJ Barrett (9) dunks on Dallas Mavericks’ Marvin Bagley III on Sunday, March 8, 2026 at Scotiabank Arena. Photo by Chris Young \/THE CANADIAN PRESSArticle content<\/p>\n![\"Toronto](\"https:\/\/dcs-static.gprod.postmedia.digital\/20.7.1\/websites\/images\/identity\/logo-identity-tsun.svg\"){kind=logo}
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