TORONTO — With the sleep wicked out of their eyes and the caffeine flowing through their veins, the Toronto Raptors finally woke up after halftime of their game against the Indiana Pacers.
NBA players work nights. There’s the land of the long afternoon nap.
So when they get the opportunity to play a day game — Sunday’s pre-Super Bowl tip-off was at 3 p.m. ET, their earliest start of the season and one of just six all year before 6 p.m. — it can take a little while to get the motors running.
As Brandon Ingram said in the Raptors locker room: “Afternoon? That’s when I’m asleep.”
Take Scottie Barnes, who was moving relatively in slow motion in the first half against the Pacers, as were most of his teammates. By the time they were heading in for the halftime break, the Raptors were trailing the Pacers by two, having shot just 7-of-12 from the free throw line and turning the ball over 11 times.
The best description of the first half was ‘blah.’
Most of their wounds were self-inflicted: risky passes through traffic; sloppy passes with no firm commitment, a lack of body and ball movement leading to a 24-second violation. For his part, Barnes was just fine, having contributed eight points, four rebounds and just one assist in his 18 minutes, but it wasn’t like he was affecting the game in any significant way. The Raptors lost his minutes by four points.
It’s not great at the best of times — the Raptors go as Barnes goes, most games — but against the Pacers (13-40)? Indiana arrived with the worst record in the Eastern Conference and has all the incentive in the world to keep losing, having made a trade involving their first-round pick in a highly touted 2026 draft with protections that allow them to keep it if the selection falls in the top four.
Not good at all. Playing the Pacers at home is a game the Raptors absolutely have to win.
Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic gave the old, ‘nap time over’ talk at halftime.
“Okay, it’s time to wake up. It’s a 3 p.m. game, but good news, now it’s 4:30, so we’re going to be fine in the second half,” said Rajakovic.
Barnes got the message. Like a big dog grabbing a little dog by the neck, the Raptors’ multi-skilled forward picked the game up and shook it.
The result was about as good a nine-minute flurry of basketball as you are likely to see this season. It was the kind of dominance that makes you believe that Barnes’ ceiling is borderline unlimited.
There were one-man fast breaks that ended in dunks. There were spinning post moves that ended in dunks. There were offensive rebounds that he put back for scores and offensive rebounds he kicked out for wide-open threes by his teammates. There were defensive rebounds followed by perfectly calibrated, three-quarter-court passes to teammates and definitive blocks by Barnes when the Pacers dared challenge him at the rim.
By the time he was done, the Raptors had turned their halftime deficit into a 16-point advantage, and Barnes’ explosion was the difference in what ended up being a comfortable 122-104 win that undoubtedly made the Super Bowl chilli go down a little better.
Barnes finished with 25 points, 14 rebounds, six assists, two steals and four blocks on 12-of-20 shooting. He ended up plus-22 in his 33 minutes and plus-16 in his 15 minutes after halftime.
“I just do what the game demands from me,” said Barnes, who is among the league leaders in points, rebounds, assists, blocks and steals on a Raptors team that is holding down fifth place in the Eastern Conference.
He wasn’t the only contributor. Sandro Mamukelashvili continued his red-hot shooting off the bench as he scored 17 points in 21 minutes, knocking down six of his nine looks, including three of five from deep. Since Jan. 18, the big Georgian is averaging 15.7 points per game and shooting 47 per cent from deep and 56 per cent overall. It’s a level of play that explains why the Raptors were hesitant to add significant salary at the trade deadline, given every additional dollar is money they might need to use to re-sign Mamukelashvili next summer.
It’s part of the reason why acquiring Trayce Jackson-Davis became a preferred solution at the trade deadline. Since he’s got a team option on the last year of his contract for $2.4 million, the Raptors can afford to keep him or — in a pinch — move on if they need the resources elsewhere.
Based on the smallest possible sample size, they might want to take a long look. The six-foot-10 centre finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds — eight on the offensive end — in his 15 minutes. His contributions might be more significant if Collin Murray-Boyles misses more time with his troublesome left thumb — he had to leave the game in the first quarter and didn’t return.
Rajakovic is going to let Jackson-Davis play before rushing to any conclusions on the 25-year-old. “I just want to let him be,” he said. “I want to coach him. I want to help him. I want to build him and see where we go. I don’t want, based on one good game or bad game, to pass any judgment on him. I want to see a chunk of 10, 15 games and see how he grows with us.”
But Rajakovic has no such reservations about expounding on Barnes, whom he has supported loudly since he began coaching him two seasons ago. He’s defended Barnes against bad refereeing, promoted him as an all-star and all-defence candidate, and on Sunday took it a giant step further.
“I tell you what, Scottie is defensive player of the year. Scottie is an all-star. Scottie is going to be NBA Finals MVP one day. Scottie is going to MVP of this league one day,” said Rajakovic. “I’m calling it now. You can write down the date when I said that. Scottie is not even close to where he’s going to be when he’s 27 and 28. There is so much he’s improving, week by week.”
They’re bold declarations. If Rajakovic is right, the Raptors will win a championship led by Barnes, and he’ll end up in the Hall of Fame. Finals MVPs are awarded to Finals winners, and league MVPs end up in the Hall of Fame. He would be the best Raptor ever.
For his part, Barnes is appreciative of his coach’s support: “That’s my coach, man, he’s always supporting us, He’s always got our back. That’s Darko.”
But for Barnes, the path to any kind of success can only come through winning and finding ways to lift his team on a cold Sunday in February when their mid-afternoon naps get messed with.
“We needed (me) to rebound more, we needed some rim protection. It’s just doing what the game demands,” he said. “I was feeling it a little bit, going downhill, attacking. We needed to score.”
It’s short and concise and every word of it is true. The Raptors were moving a little gingerly, and Barnes was a human dose of energy drink. Instead of trying to score or defend or make plays for others, he did all of it, right when the Raptors needed it.
It’s the kind of thing that great players do, and Barnes has shown that it’s a level he can get to when needed, and nearly on demand.
Very few can. His coach might be on to something.
Thumbs down, thumbs up: At least this time, Murray-Boyles couldn’t blame anyone else. The last time the talented rookie had to leave the game because of the sprain to his left thumb, which he’s been dealing with since before Christmas, it was because Lakers star Luka Doncic chopped down on the ball so hard it looked like he was trying to separate Murray-Boyles’ hand from his wrist. That blow kept him out of the lineup for four games and has hampered him since. “I was doing the chopping this time,” he told me in the Raptors locker room afterwards. There was no update on his condition, other than his thumb remains sprained, bruised and sore. You wonder if Murray-Boyles might get Wednesday’s game against the Pistons off and give his thumb 10 days to heal. Some good news, however, as centre Jakob Poeltl seems likely to return to the lineup on Wednesday. He was in consideration to play Sunday but was a late scratch. “He is very, very close,” said Rajakovic.
Ironman Ingram: This time a year ago, you were most likely to find Brandon Ingram in the Raptors dressing room reading a book. He was new to the team, having been acquired at the trade deadline, and still out for the foreseeable future with a high ankle sprain that limited him to 18 games last season. “I was trying to fill my time as best I could,” he told me. “You get super-anxious trying to get back on the floor, so I was just trying to prepare my mind, fill my time as best I could. I just couldn’t wait to get back on the floor.” The book on Ingram, 12 months later, is that you can’t get him off the floor. Sunday’s matchup against the Pacers was his 52nd game of the season, a workload that kept him among the busiest players in the league. He came into Sunday’s game 13th in total minutes. It’s the most games he’s played before the all-star break since his rookie season in Los Angeles. “This team welcomed me with open arms,” he said, nearly 12 months to the day since joining the Raptors. “The coaching staff, the training staff, the fans,” he said. “This is one of the best moves I’ve made in my NBA career. “
Nembhard running with it: All things considered, Andrew Nembhard would rather be competing for a chance to get back to the NBA Finals. But the Achilles tendon rupture suffered by Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton in Game 7 of the Finals changed everything for Indiana. They arrived in Toronto last in the Eastern Conference and are effectively taking a gap year, waiting for Haliburton to get healthy. The addition of centre Ivica Zubac at the trade deadline (in a deal that sent Montrealer Ben Mathurin to the Clippers) should help them compete for a Finals spot next season. In the meantime, Nembhard has taken advantage of a huge spike in offensive responsibility with Haliburton out. He’s averaging 17.4 points and 7.5 assists per game and shooting 36.4 per cent from three on 5.2 attempts per game, all of which are career highs. And with Haliburton out, he’s creating more opportunities for himself than ever: only 33.9 per cent of his makes this season have come from assisted baskets, compared to 47.4 per cent last year. “I want to make the most of my opportunity,” Nembhard told me. He’s doing that and then some.
