Raptors film room: Another Scottie Barnes masterclass

Scottie Barnes dished out a career-high 15 assists while adding 23 points in a dismantling of the Orlando Magic where the Raptors went on a 31-0 run and one by 50+. It was never a close game for longer than 5 minutes.

Here’s the recap:

And here’s Samson’s summary:

Without Brandon Ingram out for the game, the first stint was distinctly “Barnes Ball.” with Barnes providing 6 points (off two separate pull up triples) and 3 assists. A very limited offensive run for the team at 14 team points across 14 possessions and almost 7 minutes, yes, but a widening of the sample size that Rajakovic referred to prior to the game. What came after, with a transitional lineup that didn’t feature the Raptors all-star, and then Barnes’ eventual return to the lineup, was a helter-skelter 24-0 run for the Raptors. Fuelled by turnovers, some Sandro Mamukelashvili, and two straight Barnes dunks in transition, the Raptors launched themselves into a huge lead at 38-20. Over 5 minutes of scoreless basketball for the Magic. They had 12 first quarter turnovers.

“It’s tricky because they do such a great job of it.” Coach Jamahl Mosley told me before the game of the Raptors forcing turnovers. “They don’t give you one set way of doing it. One time you can bring the ball up the floor, and you think you’re by yourself and suddenly Scottie’s flying from the baseline to trap the ball. The next time down you’re in the post, you think you’re alone and all of a sudden RJ’s coming to double the ball out of nowhere. There’s not really a full structure to how they do it. They read off each other, they play off each other very well, and they fly around and cover for each other. So, we just needed to make sure we went through as many scenarios as we could before the game. But also, helping our guys understand at any moment, it’s live, so we have to be prepared to be outlets for each other.”

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