TORONTO — This was how the Toronto Raptors were hoping things would work.
One night removed from their big guns delivering an unlikely come-from-behind win over the Golden State Warriors, the Raptors needed another solution to solve the visiting Orlando Magic on Monday.
Relying on one player or one group of players every game is no way to thrive in the NBA.
Sure, Scottie Barnes is capable of lifting his team on plenty of nights. So too can Brandon Ingram, but it can’t only be them.
On nights when they’re not at their best and RJ Barrett is out (resting on a back-to-back after returning from five weeks out with a knee injury), Immanuel Quickley is struggling (2-of-12 from the field ) and Jakob Poeltl remains sidelined with his back issue, some of the other professional basketball players have to make themselves heard.
The idea heading into this season was that the promise shown at the end of last year by the likes of Gradey Dick, Jamal Shead, Ja’Kobe Walter and Ochai Agbaji would translate into some game-changing performances of their own.
It’s been a hit-and-miss proposition for much of the season. While Shead has mostly excelled in his role as backup point guard and increasingly co-point guard at the end of games with Quickley, the returns offered by Dick, Walter and Agbaji have been mixed, the battle for minutes and shifting roles not always translating into impactful performances.
And while rookie Collin Murray-Boyles certainly has shown flashes of a very promising NBA future, the demands of the league have affected him in different ways. the 20-year-old has been hit by seemingly every virus and been dinged up just enough that almost every time he’s built some momentum, he’s had to sit down for a game or two.
But for one night when the team absolutely needed a jolt, when the starters were either showing signs of fatigue or simply not available, the Raptors got the help the needed in what ended up being a 107-106 win over the Magic.
The win improved the Raptors to 20-14 while the Magic dropped to 18-15. The Raptors remain in fourth place in the East. The Raptors didn’t win their 20th game last season until March 4.
Initially, it looked like the Raptors weren’t going to get their 20th win Monday, either. Toronto was down by 10 before the game was four minutes old. The Raptors were trailing by 21 midway through the second quarter and even though they were able to dig themselves out of that hole, they still were down by double figures with 7:39 left to play in the game.
The situation wasn’t quite as dire as Sunday when they were down by seven with 1:45 to play against the Warriors, but then again it didn’t look like Barnes had another monster night in him to lift the Raptors on a night when they shot just 39 per cent from the floor and 8-of-34 from three.
After his epic 23-point, 25-rebound, 10-assist triple-double against the Warriors, Barnes’ legs were heavy. He was 1-of-8 from the floor the first half, the Magic’s overall team size proving a tougher matchup for him than the Warriors were Sunday. Ingram was just 3-of-11 from the floor. The Raptors shot only 35.2 per cent as a team in the first half.
But there was a spark. The Raptors clawed themselves back from an apparent blowout thanks in part to Dick coming off the bench to give them 15 points in 12 minutes in the first half, the most points the struggling third-year wing has scored this season, save for 21 on opening night against the Atlanta Hawks. Dick averaged 14.4 points a game last season and came into Monday averaging just six points per game this year.
Shead joined him with 12 first-half points on his way to 19 for the night, setting a new career high. Walter continued his run of strong play not so much with his offence — though his 10 points were as important as any others — but by making a steal and then drawing an offensive foul on successive plays in the fourth quarter to spark the Raptors’ comeback. He also added seven rebounds.
Meanwhile, Murray-Boyles returned after being quarantined with the flu over the past six days to grab 12 rebounds — including seven on offence — and block two shots, a big reason he was a team-best +18 even while shooting just 1-of-6 from the floor.
“I feel like this was a game that Gradey needed, and he really helped us in that first half, and kind of carried the scoring load,” said Shead. “And it was awesome to see him get into a groove, and then just [Walter’s] defence towards the end of that game. So, I think the bench unit is coming along, and I think we’re just growing as the season grows. We’re not trying to stay too high, trying to stay too low, just trying to grow and learn from our mistakes.”
It’s been a process. The bench unit was thriving earlier in the season when the Raptors were healthy and the competition was weaker. But with injuries to Poeltl and Barrett, different players have had to play out of their ideal spots and they’ve struggled against the league’s better teams at times.
Monday’s win over the Magic — missing starters Jalen Suggs and Franz Wagner — was just Toronto’s eighth over teams with winning records.
But it could portend better things to come. Barnes and Ingram have been nothing but reliable this season. Barrett is back and ready to play. Poeltl should be back within a couple of weeks.
If the bench group, anchored by the team’s young core, can find a way to change the outcomes of games when needed, the Raptors might have more staying power in the East.
“Those guys, they’re built of special cloth,” said coach Darko Rajakovic, whose team held the Magic to 12 points in the fourth quarter. “They’re built of resiliency. They’re really putting in a lot of work. It doesn’t matter if we win, we lose. It doesn’t matter if we’re up, we’re down. It does not really matter what kind of mood we’re in. They’re extremely professional. They’re doing a good job of preparing for each game. They keep going forward. I love how fearless they are. I love how together they play. That’s something very important for young guys to learn early in their careers: You’ve got to bring energy every night. It’s very important.”
They brought it against the Magic and it made a difference. Barnes (13 points, 11 rebounds, two steals and a blocked shot on 5-of-12 shooting) was able to lift the Raptors in the end — he had a big three down the stretch, added a big blocked shot and scored the winning points at the free-throw line. But there was a game there to save because of all the work that had been done by others leading up to that point.
It’s a formula that good teams rely on at various points of the season, and Monday was one of those moments.
All-Star campaign for Barnes needs a boost
It was perplexing when the first round of fan voting of the All-Star Game came out Monday and Barnes was not among the top 20 Eastern Conference vote-getters. Fan votes count for 50 per cent in the vote to determine all-star starters. Media votes and current player votes count for 25 per cent each.
After the five starters from each conference are voted on, the coaches vote to fill out the other seven spots from each conference. Chances are that’s Barnes’ path to making his second all-star team as coaches are more likely to recognize his overall contributions to a team that is playing above expectations. But that didn’t stop Rajakovic from trying to rally Raptors fans to get Barnes the recognition he feels he deserves.
“I am very disappointed that Scottie did not crack the top 20,” Rajakovic said. “We need to get this right. Canada needs to get this right. It starts with us. It starts with our city. It starts with our country over here … only two players in the NBA this season have 500 points-plus, 250 assists-plus, 25 blocks-plus and 250 rebounds-plus, and that’s Nikola Jokić and Scottie Barnes. I have no doubt that Scottie Barnes is an all-star. I have no doubt that he needs to be toward the top of that list of players in the East. Canada, we need to get that fixed right now.”
The Raptors’ newest signee, Mo Bamba, made his debut at the start of the second quarter. He played four minutes and recorded two fouls and had one spectacular blocked shot, his specialty.
Bamba arrived in Toronto on Sunday night and went through the Raptors’ walk-through before the Magic game.
“He’s a seven-footer who can block shots. He has a good wingspan with really good timing around the rim to change and block shots,” said Rajakovic. “We need for him to be a roller for us. We need him to bring a lot of intensity on the defensive end to rebound the ball. All of those traits are very valuable for us at this point, especially while Jak is out.”
The Raptors updated the centre’s troublesome back condition before the game. He has been ruled out for the Raptors’ current five-game homestand. “Poeltl is currently completing a program of intensive rehabilitation and strengthening,” the Raptors said in a release. “Following that period, he will be reevaluated for a return to play and his status will be updated as appropriate.”
Poeltl has missed four straight games and played just six minutes in the past seven games, dating back to Dec. 18. He’s missed 13 games with his back issue so far this season.
