Barnes and Ingram make definitive All-Star cases as they boost Raptors over Bucks

Scottie Barnes and Brandon Ingram are dominating. This is the vision of their tandem stardom, each filling in the holes in the other’s game. They work together, and separately, both proving to be powerful beyond measure. They thrive, every time one of the them touches the ball a boon to the Toronto Raptors’ offence. These are elite players, two of the best in the NBA. This is what a good partnership looks like:

Barnes blocks a shot at the rim, discos his way down the floor for a layup. He leaks out in transition, catches in traffic, and bowls a bounce pass to Immanuel Quickley for a triple. It’s missed, so Barnes taps-taps-taps the ball to himself for an I’m-bigger-than-all-of-you offensive rebound. 

Meanwhile, Brandon Ingram flows like liquid swords into his jumper. He steps into a 3-pointer, another, curls around a corner triple. He’s counting by higher numbers than the Milwaukee Bucks. 

Barnes had subbed out but quickly enters the game as Toronto’s defensive teeth had been filed without his league-leading ability to steal and block the ball. He hits a jumper in the post, drifts to the rim on defence to punch a ball off the backboard as a hapless Buck dares to loft it too soft in his presence. His younger teammates turn the ball over needlessly, and Barnes and fellow defensive stud Collin Murray-Boyles force a turnover defending in transition. Barnes drives on the following possession, fakes a fadeaway, steps through the lane, and dunks uncontested after his whirling move. Did someone say Pascal Siakam?

Then he buries a triple, stepping into a shot several feet behind the line in semi-transition. 

Barnes starts the second quarter as the delay hub on offence, playing center with Sandro Mamukelashvili playing power forward alongside him. He runs an impression of Domantas Sabonis, with rapid touches, screens, handoffs, toggling the ball along the perimeter. He creates a wide-open triple for his teammates, which is missed, so Barnes unfurls his Tall-Ship arms and snatches the offensive rebound over a Buck. Toronto again can’t do anything with the possession, and the ball fumbles out of bounds. Barnes hits a jumper to simplify things. Then hits a hanging middy on the next possession.

Turnovers keep Milwaukee in the game. Needless ones, ugly ones, turnovers from all over the court. But the boulder keeps rolling down the hill. Ingram draws two defenders, toggles the ball along to teammates. Fitting into the system. The next possession he gets downhill for a twisting layup using every inch of his outrageous wingspan.   

Mamukelashvili has emerged as the third head of Toronto’s hydra. He’s been driving like clockwork, rumbling downhill, hitting triples. He tips the ball away on the offensive glass and puts it back. 

But where are their teammates? The trio is practically outsourcing the Bucks all on its own, but no one else has joined them. Rain clouds appear on the horizon. Quickley is missing everything, taking some questionable shots in transition, playing like he did in the first handful of games of the season. Gradey Dick and Jamal Shead can’t buy points. 

The Bucks tie the game on a corner triple, and Quickley hops, skips, jumps his way out of bounds chasing the ball as Toronto tries to push the pace. 

Barnes drives, absorbs contact from one Buck, two, turns his drive to the outside of the rim and shoulders a runner off the glass. Toronto attempts zero free throws in the half. 

The rain clouds darken. Toronto misses open triples, Milwaukee cans some. But Ingram starts parading to the free-throw line. He drives, drives some more, drives again. Toronto’s limping along now, but Ingram keeps the team’s head above water. Quickley clangs an alley-oop attempt off the back rim. Ingram dunks in transition. The rain clouds lighten. 

Murray-Boyles gets a stop. He gets a layup. The lead grows, the rain clouds lighten more. Murray-Boyles’ defence is excellent. He is coming along for the ride. He’s a gamer. Dick hits a triple. The cavalry is finally arriving.

Quickley connects on a lob, finally. Barnes dunks an easy one after he screened for Quickley. Have the two of them worked pick-and-roll wonders together like this before? It is a small step forward for the scoreboard, one giant leap forward for cohesion. Dick hits another triple. (His defence has not come along for the ride.)

The Raptors roll without Ingram or Barnes for a moment. It is a moment too long. Ingram and Barnes enter. Ingram hits a triple. His footwork on those shots has been immaculate, forming up three feet off the line, stepping into the pass, starting his dip before the ball hits his hand.

Toronto survives the final few minutes. The stars don’t carry Toronto over the finish line, but they don’t need to. Quickley finally gets some shots to fall, including an uncontested putback created as Barnes fights on the offensive glass. Shead hits a triple, a layup. Barnes and Ingram did enough early on that they didn’t need highlights to close out the game. Ingram finishes with 29 points on 18 shots and Barnes with 24 points, 11 rebounds, two assists, two blocks, and a steal. It ends up an easy win, the rain clouds at the end of the second quarter nothing but a mirage. The fourth quarter was, in hindsight, theoretical. Barnes and Ingram’s teammates had finally arrived.

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