Once upon a time, the Toronto Raptors built their bones on the excitement of comeback wins. The 2019-20 Raptors set the franchise record with a 30-point comeback — coming in the second half — against Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks. Kyle Lowry never quit.
Even last season, the Raptors had their fair share of excitement. A Jan. 29 game against the Miami Heat went to triple overtime before the Raptors pulled ahead behind an O.G. Anunoby dunk, a Fred VanVleet triple, and Pascal Siakam free throws. A Feb. 3 game against the Chicago Bulls saw Scottie Barnes put the ball back in the net on an offensive rebound with no time left on the clock to send the game to overtime, which Toronto won. Inpredictable, a live odds tracking site, called the first win the single most exciting game of the 2021-22 season, and the latter had a 2.5-percent chance of a Toronto victory before Barnes rebounded the miss.
Excitement used to be the calling card of this Raptors team. But the most exciting games of Toronto’s 2022-23 season have had a habit of turning into losses. On Jan. 19, the Raptors gave up a double-digit, fourth-quarter comeback to the Minnesota Timberwolves. (Inpredictable ranks it the 18th-best comeback game of the 2022-23 season.) On Nov. 19, the 13th-most exciting game of the 2022-23 season saw the Raptors give up a seven-point lead to the Atlanta Hawks with under three minutes remaining.
In fact, prior to Toronto’s incredible win over the Memphis Grizzlies, the team’s only double-digit comeback in the second half came on Jan. 16 against the New York Knicks. Scottie Barnes and Fred VanVleet combined for 59 points, and even though Barnes gave up a preposterous transition dunk to RJ Barrett to tie the game in regulation, Anunoby hit a pair of triples in overtime to seal the win.
By and large, the Raptors have truly been the team of the fake comeback this season. The Raptors have the fourth-best clutch net rating on the year at +14.1 — the best net rating for a team on the season is +6.1 — yet at 14-18, the Raptors have the fifth-most clutch losses in the league. That stat is only possible because the Raptors stage so many comebacks late, coming back from large deficits and winning their minutes, only to fall short and lose anyway. (I know this is stupid, because Toronto doesn’t begin clutch time on an even footing against opponents, but all else being equal a 14.1 net rating would yield something like 28-4 in the clutch over 32 games. So.)
And then against the Grizzlies, finally — finally! — a comeback meant the real thing for Toronto.
The Inpredictable chart of Toronto’s win over Memphis on Feb. 5 is staggering. The Grizzlies multiple times had odds of winning over 90 percent. With one minute remaining, and the Grizzlies up three points, they had an 85-percent chance of winning.
But what really happened was far, far more exciting than any charts on a stats website.
Barnes took over. It was, at least for a brief instant, a superstar moment. The most optimistic reading would be that Barnes foreshadowed his own future. But that doesn’t matter, or at least it’s secondary. The win, particularly with the Raptors doing nothing more than going through the motions recently, was an end in and of itself. It was a brief oasis of joy in a dry desert of a season.
The Grizzlies lead midway through the fourth, and Toronto’s established stars both have a quick go of it. But VanVleet misses a floater off glass while driving baseline, and Siakam misses a faceup pull-up jumper from the midrange. Meanwhile Jaren Jackson jr. is annihilating the Raptors, drawing free throws, creating layups.
Enter Barnes. He drills a triple. Later, Siakam turns to the pull-up triple (strange!), and VanVleet then misses an open catch-and-shoot triple out of a timeout. Barnes isolates and hits a short fadeaway jumper. Then he isolates again, creates contact, and throws up the quick floater for two. He is a brilliant, genius finisher.
And that’s the game. VanVleet records a clutch block and Nick Nurse a clutch challenge to keep it a block, and the Raptors notched a much-needed win. If you closed your eyes, it almost felt like the 2021-22 Raptors.
Barnes is quietly becoming one of the best clutch players in the NBA. He is now shooting 59.0 from the field during the clutch, a better mark than his overall efficiency on the year. (And he’s shooting phenomenally well from deep and the free throw line in the clutch, too.) His usage doesn’t go up, and he doesn’t all of a sudden start running the show for the Raptors, but he becomes more efficient, and that matters. He looks poised, and that should translate down the road when the Raptors are good again.
For one night, the Raptors found both fun in the moment and excitement for the future. The one night isn’t going to change the front office’s mind when it comes to the trade deadline. But it was worth it anyway. A night of joy and fun, of good vibes, of a comeback that ended with a win. It’s been too rare for the Raptors. But that just means it’s worth appreciating when it happens.
