RJ Barrett touches heaven with game winner while Scottie Barnes ascends into superstardom in Game 6 win

“We know what’s coming.” Kenny Atkinson told me before the game. It was part of a longer answer about how the Raptors have crowded the nail, but it hit at the heart of what the Raptors have done defensively over the course of the series. For a few games now, things have looked very similar, and tenacious, and they ask the Cavaliers to beat it.

The Cavaliers early diagnosis and action was to keep Harden away from the play on offense and to allow Donovan Mitchell + the other Cavaliers to play out of 4-on-4 situations more often. A bit more space for the bigs, a bit more space for Mitchell with Scottie Barnes away from most plays. That’s why the Cavaliers did it, of course, to keep Barnes away from mucking everything up. A decent gambit in the opening, and something they could go away from when Barnes exited the game. Plans within plans, and the like.

“We gotta hit singles. Sometimes turnovers happen cause we’re trying to hit the home run, to make the hard play. We have to make the simple play first, and then it’s the next play and then we can attack.” Coach Atkinson told me.

On the other side, the Raptors kept running their flow offense between RJ Barrett & Barnes. Run screens, run handoffs, tell everyone with a pulse to emulate a shooter, if they could. In the early going? They did great. A 4/8 opening from downtown is worth a lot to these Raptors, but not worth more than what the Cavaliers were creating, even as Barnes was dueling away (fastest gun in the west, erm east) and sniping from the mid range. A huge difference, at least to my eye, was how the Cavaliers looked decidedly less rushed on offense. The Raptors were still forcing turnovers, and well done to them, but the frenzied nature of the defense and the glazed over eyes of the Cavaliers weren’t manifesting the same as they had in the past.

The lineup that tied things up before the first quarter ended, and generally put a stop to what the Cavs had going on offense, was Barnes-Barrett-CMB-Shead-Walter. No Harden on the floor, Barnes blanketing Mitchell, and CMB a circling bird of prey for every other action – they turned the water off. They also managed to force the Cavaliers into turnovers for runouts, and scored in the halfcourt on top of that.

Just as a note, it’s been really fun to watch a Raptors team where Barnes-Barrett-CMB are the leading men, the 3 best players. It makes for a smash mouth team that’s incredibly easy to root for.

“Grit. Who wants the ball more? Who is more desperate in the game?” Coach Darko told me the bare bones of how the Raptors can continue to hang in defensively against the talented Cavaliers. “We’re playing in front of our home crowd, we’ve gotten great support throughout the year. We’re really excited about the opportunity we have. It has to be who wants it more? Who is gonna hit first? Who is gonna get up for a rebound? Who is gonna keep the 50/50 balls alive? We have to be that team tonight.”

To open the second quarter, Barnes put his foot on the gas. In these playoffs he’s been such a rare blend of defensive stopper (in any way you can really imagine) and offensive initiator. It’s allowed for a level of control that very few players exhibit on a game. It’s vaulted him to, unquestionably, one of the best players in these playoffs, and it vaulted the Raptors into a 7-point lead. Sky scraping dunks, blocks at the rim, deny defense, vicious roaming defensive stoppages, and svelte, smooth playmaking. Special stuff from the Raptors star.

Barnes’ reputation is that of a player who would like to pass first, which is true, and of someone who lets waves of passivity creep into his game, which is true to some extent. In this series, but especially in the second quarter, he was running through 3 screens a possession to pursue the basketball and try to create. It was brash, nitros fuelled offensive work. He had turned the dial up by some measure and pushed, pushed, pushed past limits that no longer belonged to him. His coach, Darko Rajakovic, was pressing the “minutes, minutes, more minutes” button for his star as well. Seeing the unbridled gumption his star was playing with and asking for the total payload. Flanked by a cool, easy scoring Star-J, a hot-from-downtown Walter, and a Raptors defense that upped the ante defensively, Barnes and the Raptors went into half time with a 10-point lead.

Gas pedals remained pressed to open the third quarter. The Raptors, with no pretense of happy-to-be-here, no ho-hum pluckiness, they charged forward. The two lefties, Murray-Boyles and Barrett impressed their strength upon the game in an undeniable way. Both heard their names chanted by the crowd, both wrestled their way to success. A remarkable, and undeniable wrinkle of these Raptors – they will win the battle of wills, and they’re just as likely to win the battle of muscles. The Cavaliers best player by some measure in the series, Harden, was bothered immensely by the incessant, bully-ish pressing from Murray-Boyles. At the 3-minute mark of the 3rd quarter the Raptors had scored 21 field goals inside the paint, and the bully-ball-trio of Barnes/Barrett/CMB had provided 17 of those makes.

The 4th quarter was a slog. A slow, painful crawl back into things from the Cavaliers. Pained, labored offensive possessions from the Raptors until the lead eventually trickled down to 1 point with 3 minutes left – where the Raptors called a timeout. Perhaps to come up with a plan, but moreso, I think, to give Barnes a breather as he looked like he was at the end of his rope in terms of energy. Barnes didn’t recover. No Brandon Ingram available, no Immanuel Quickley, just the fellas, a short bench, and digging deep to win it. Win a 3-minute stretch and make your way back to Cleveland, or the death.

Walter and Mobley exchanged triples. A minute and 20 seconds had gone, and the margin didn’t change. A slick up and under from Barnes — after running through 3 different screening partners searching for an advantage — sent him to the line where he’d split the pair. Both teams exchanged misses and scrappy chase downs until the clock trickled to 15 seconds, with the Cavs in possession of it, and down 2.

“If ever we needed you Toronto, it’s now!” Herbie Kuhn’s voice blared out as the Raptors faithful chanted “DEFENSE” at the top of their lungs. The Raptors stunted the Cavs initial play, forcing a timeout and another run at things.

It was a Mobley catch in the deep corner, a drive, with long, loping steps and a finish at the mountaintop over CMB. It took the Cavaliers 4 seconds to tie the game. The Raptors had 11 seconds to win it, and they didn’t. It was a scrappy screening play between Barnes & Shead where the Raptors star had trouble negotiating the middle ground of the Cavaliers attention, and threw a pass to Shead that forced up a bit of an off balance heave that caught the rim twice, but danced off.

Overtime.

The final 5 minutes were a crawl through the mud. Both teams were toggling through screening partners, trying desperately to carve out some sort of advantage, some sort of good look, but they both mostly settled for tough makes. Neither side poured it in. Grimy, grindy buckets. The Raptors were trying desperately to disguise the fact that Barnes’ energy levels appeared to be lower than zero. He’d been the best player in the series, and they couldn’t ask him to close it out with the vigor of his shot making from earlier in the game. Shead had two free throws to tie the game after worming loose against Allen – he split the pair.

The lefties teamed up again. CMB assaulted Mobley for a steal.

With the Raptors, looking their death in the face, RJ Barrett reached back for a triple that bounced once off the back rim, touched heaven, then floated back into bucket, for the win.

Absolute madness.

Back to Cleveland for 7.

Have a blessed day.

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