RJ Barrett drops 39 as Toronto spoils Pascal Siakam’s return

Toronto has been fighting uphill battles all season long. Due to the numerous injuries up and down their roster, they are not favored in most games, and have had to battle against teams with more talent more often than not. Last night against the Indiana Pacers was no different, but empowered by some remarkable performances from RJ Barrett and Jakob Poetl, Toronto was able to get a decisive win. This game was a slugfest throughout the night, and Indiana did not make it easy for Toronto to leave with this win. Toronto did well to keep their lead toward the end of the game, and really took advantage of Indiana’s defensive woes.

Poetl, who finished with 30 points, 15 rebounds, 2 steals, and 2 blocks, is playing some of the best basketball of his career right now and last night he took full advantage of the absence of Pacers big man Myles Turner. Poetl was a force inside, and he was constantly diving to the rim, and put in actions where he could dive to the rim. The game opened up with Poetl screening for Barrett, and slipping behind the Pacers backup Enrique Freeman for a wide open jam. On another play, Toronto ran a “Chicago” action with Gradey Dick as the handoff receiver and Poetl again found his way to the rim and layed it in after a pass from Dick. It was clear from the opening tip that Freeman could not handle Poetl in the paint and Poetl never let him off the hook. He was aggressive all night, efficient all night, without commandeering the ball, and just playing within the flow of the offense,

Barrett, who finished with 39 points, was a wild locomotive train all night long. With all the injuries that Toronto has faced, Barrett has had to have the ball a lot more, and he handled that burden extremely well last night. Barrett began the game with three catch and shoot triples, as Indiana seemed comfortable giving him soft closeouts and helping off of him on the weak side. Barrett was scoring in the paint in every way you can imagine. Bumping his man out of the way for a hook shot? Easy. Going baseline and using the rim as protection for a reverse layup? Got it. Barrett used his strength well to get to the basket, but the crafty finishes that he utilized to get his paint scoring was very good. It was Barrett’s mid-range and three-point shooting that stood out on the night and truly empowered this huge scoring explosion.

Toronto found themselves with huge leads throughout the night and time after time the Pacers would claw their way back into the game. Pascal Siakam and Benedict Mathurin had 25 and 28 points respectively as Toronto couldn’t really find an answer to their scoring punch. Mathurin specifically made 4 of his 6 triples, so Toronto was just at his mercy. Overall, as the lead was dwindling and it seemed that Indiana’s outside shooting numbers would propel them to take over this game, Barrett’s 15 points in the fourth quarter ultimately halted Indiana’s aspirations of a comeback.

In a game that featured two bad defenses, and a boatload of injuries on both sides, it simply turned into a war of attrition. Toronto was able to keep their lead, on the backs of Poetl and Barrett’s big nights, and ultimately pick up their third win of the season.

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