Raptors drop opener as Scottie Barnes struggles and Immanuel Quickley leaves injured
The term is ball pressure, ladies & gents. The Raptors brought it early, stepping up the level of screens, bringing digs higher, meeting the ball much higher, and disrupting a lot of the early actions the Cavaliers were running. The bad news? It didn’t last forever, and it wasn’t particularly close to forever either. It’s not that they gave it up, they kept meeting the ball, they just didn’t have the defensive personnel to make it work for an extended amount of time.
Evan Mobley had a huge game eating off of the dunker spot, which was always open because of the help-side defense having to step up. Whether it was Gradey Dick, Ochai Agbaji or Immanuel Quickley, they all allowed Cavaliers to get downhill.
On the other end, the Cavaliers didn’t worry as much about ball pressure. They switched things liberally, went under screens, and did everything to protect the shell of their defense, which they know is elite. They even went so far as to run a zone for an extended amount of time in the NBA, which doesn’t happen that often.
Early on against those switches, the Raptors did a great job of driving them or hitting jumpers over the top. Be it Immanuel Quickley — who hit the first bucket of the Raptors season, a gorgeous step back triple over Jarrett Allen — or Scottie Barnes, the Raptors kept pace by attacking the jumbled matchups. That did hit a stopping point, however. Paint touches make the world go round, and the Raptors had that water turned off almost completely.
It’s in these tougher offensive environments that you need a star to analyze, assess, then attack. In this game, no one stepped up in that way for the Raptors. Barnes was completely neutralized by the scheme of the Cavaliers at first, but then at some point in the game succumbed to passivity. Even when he was guarded by Garland or Mitchell, he would kill the dribble, settle for jumpers, or pass out quickly. Barnes is still returning as an All-Star, everyone should still be very excited about what this season could be for him, but this was a really disappointing performance. 25 minutes, 9 points on 14 shots, 6 boards and 5 assists and a team worst minus-33.
Even Quickley, who scored the ball well enough — hitting threes and attacking closeouts will do wonders for you — couldn’t really create en masse for his teammates (despite the 4 assists in 14 minutes). There wasn’t a lot of creativity to counter the packed-in defense of the Cavaliers. Forays into the paint didn’t leave lasting impressions and resulted in quick exits. Digs came from the wing to kick players back out if they had an edge. It takes a lot of patience, confidence in ones handle, and gumption to hang around in a congested lane. No one brought that for the Raptors. Maybe Quickley would’ve sorted it out, but he had to leave the game with a right pelvic contusion after falling while pursuing a rebound.
Even Jakob Poeltl, the lone competent big among the Raptors dearth of size, who was tremendous during pre-season and helped tie together so much of what the Raptors did; well, he was really bad in this one. Completely flummoxed by the Cavaliers overwhelming size being thrown at him, and their activity to go along with it.
The Raptors shot well from downtown (40-percent), but they didn’t shoot enough of them. Certainly not enough to offset the mashing they took in the paint – where they shot horribly. Just 55-percent at the rim and 39-percent from the short mid-range. These numbers were even worse before garbage time started up – and garbage time started plenty early in this one. RJ Barrett, and his endless hunger for paint touches and finishes, will be a sight-for-sore-eyes when he comes back.
It wasn’t much of a surprise then, that the players who scored the ball well for the Raptors were the shooters. Quickley in his short spurt. Dick was actually quite inspired in how he scored the basketball, and Chris Boucher let it fly with reckless abandon.
If you were wanting to see more from Dick, this game gave it to you. The ball pressure defense — while still not good — was better than preseason. His offensive contributions were varied and electric as he attacked the bucket with a plan, showed off that insane George Gervin finger roll he has, sprinted into jumpers, and generally made positive plays. Plays that were difficult and plays that can’t be emulated elsewhere on the roster.
So, if you watched this game to see the stars of the Raptors do their thing? That wasn’t really the case.
However, if you watched to see Jamal Shead lock up on defense for full possessions at a time, and use the throw ahead dribble in the pick n’ roll to set up a lob to Bruno Fernando? You’re in luck. Did you want to watch Jamison Battle play 16 minutes and further walk his path towards a Georges Niang type career? You got that and two triples, plus a Jonathan Mogbo triple for good measure.
The game broke down into a bit of a slog. The diverse and creative, erm, creators of the Cavaliers ushered them to strong looks on offense, and their bigs did the tough work on defense. The Cavaliers are a team that makes sense, and you understand why they succeed. Their ultimate ceiling is yet to be determined, but they came out and got themselves a very professional win over the Raptors in this one.
You take this one on the chin. Looked bad. Was bad. Keep it moving. We’ve got 81 more of ’em to go.
Have a blessed day.
The post Raptors drop opener as Scottie Barnes struggles and Immanuel Quickley leaves injured first appeared on Raptors Republic.