TORONTO \u2014 RJ Barrett knows that the Toronto Raptors have been the toughest team to score on early in the NBA season, but he\u2019s a little scared to talk about it.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t jinx us, man,\u201d Barrett said, shaking his head courtside at OVO Athletic Centre, when asked about Toronto\u2019s defence.<\/p>\n
But facts are facts. <\/p>\n
The Raptors have limited their opponents to a league-low average of 102.5 points over the first four games of the season, including a 117-94 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves last Sunday that skewed the number.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been a good defence the past couple years, so just trying to build off of that,\u201d said Barrett, alluding to Toronto having the fifth-best defensive rating by the end of the 2025-26 regular season. \u201cEverybody that\u2019s coming into the game is focused, focused on the game plans, and I think we\u2019re doing well, but we can take it to another level.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Raptors (3-1) lead the league in steals, generating 14.3 per game, well ahead of the Los Angeles Clippers (12.5) and New Orleans Pelicans (12.3). <\/p>\n
Head coach Darko Rajakovic said that generating turnovers is a result of good positioning and discipline. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we do our schemes the way we\u2019re supposed to do, when you\u2019re disciplined, it puts us in position to be effective with our hands and to create steals and to make the other team turn the ball over a lot,\u201d Rajakovic said courtside at Toronto\u2019s training facility.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny time when we are one step behind or not in the right spots, that leads us to gambling. Gambling is never good for us on the defensive end of the floor. The more discipline we have, the more we\u2019re doing what we\u2019re supposed to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Barrett said that he likes the Raptors\u2019 aggressive way of playing defence and getting turnovers for one simple reason.<\/p>\n
\u201cEasy buckets, man. Free buckets,\u201d said Barrett. \u201cThe object of the game is to score more points than the other team, so if we could get some turnovers and get out in transition, get some easy buckets, that opens up the whole game for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Toronto has set this high defensive standard despite missing two-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year Kawhi Leonard for half of their games. Leonard is out as he rehabilitates swelling in his left knee.<\/p>\n
Media reports on Thursday said that Leonard will miss three to four weeks of the season, but Rajakovic said that the Raptors don\u2019t have an exact timeline.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeven days from now, we\u2019re going to review where he\u2019s at and have a clearer plan,\u201d said Rajakovic. \u201cRight now, he\u2019s going through the treatments. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s reacting well to those treatments, and in seven days\u2019 time, we\u2019re gonna have a much better feel.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Raptors host the Orlando Magic (1-3) for the second game in a row on Friday. Toronto beat Orlando 129-99 on Wednesday, but Friday\u2019s game will have higher stakes as it\u2019s the first NBA Cup game for both teams.<\/p>\n
Leonard, Nate Bittle (avulsion fracture in his right foot) and Malachi Smith (two-way contract) were all unavailable to play on Friday. The seven-foot Bittle was active during Raptors practice on Thursday, however.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s seven to 10 days that he\u2019s been out of the boot already,\u201d said Rajakovic. \u201cSo (Bittle) is slowly ramping up. He\u2019s reacting really well to those workouts. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s pain-free, and now we are in the process of reconditioning him and getting him ready.\u201d<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 29, 2026.<\/p>\n
John Chidley-Hill, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2014 RJ Barrett knows that the Toronto Raptors have been the toughest team to score on early…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":951052,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,82],"class_list":["post-951051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/951051","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=951051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/951051\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/951052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=951051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=951051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=951051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}