The sorrow of not being able to obtain a pizza party after the loss to the Kings has been whisked away after one of the most enjoyable games of the year, as the Raptors defeated the Warriors 133-118.
After leading by as much as 27 at one point, the Raptors were really never in danger, thwarting off multiple Golden State comeback attempts, and remaining in control from start to finish.
Let’s dive in shall we?
Ohh Canada!
RJ Barrett… Welcome home.
How cool is it to see a Canadian have a spectacular game with the Raptors in only his fourth appearance with the club? Let me answer that for you. IT IS FREAKING AWESOME!!!
37 points, six rebounds, six assists and 5/8 from three and a +23… Surreal! Barrett’s ability to get to the rim by any means necessary using his strength and craftiness is great to see. He’s able to draw fouls (shot a game-high eight free throws) and is awesome in transition because of that skillset.
The dubbed “Maple Mamba” has also been shooting it well. He is 50.6% from downtown on 4.7 attempts per game. It is a small sample size (19 attempts), but if he can somewhat keep this open three-point shooting up, it will be a major swing skill for him and maximize his strengths.
He wasn’t the only Canadian to have himself a game as Chris Boucher did his thing last night. 17 points on 100% efficiency!!!! (including 3/3 from distance), 9 rebounds, a steal and a block, in only 16 minutes.
The Raptors were +20 in 15 minutes with Barrett and Boucher on the floor (per Keerthika Uthayakumar), which I’ll go ahead and say is a good thing. Oh and by the way, Barrett’s 37 points are the second most points by a Canadian Raptor in history, one point short of you guessed it, Chris Boucher.
Post-Trade Offence Is Excelling
Perfectly balanced, as all things should be.
Things just make sense offensively since the swap, with everyone on the floor seemingly knowing their role and being comfortable with it. In the last four games since the trade, the Dino’s have a whopping 123.6 offensive rating which is good enough for fourth in the NBA over that span.
Immanuel Quickley is providing off-the-dribble pull-up creation, which is something Toronto hasn’t had in a while. His shooting gravity is opening up more space for Scottie Barnes, Pascal Siakam and Barrett to all operate in. He’s also provided Jakob Poeltl with a more defined role on offence, being able to engage in pick and rolls and dish sweet pocket passes when the time calls for it.
The defence is still a work in progress, however. While the process is good and Quickley and Barrett are both above-average to solid defenders in their own right, Toronto has a 118.9 defensive rating since they joined on, which is ranked 21st in the association.
Celebrate for Containing Curry
Since the OG Anunoby for Immanuel Quickley and Barrett swap, Toronto has had a tough stretch against some all-star calibre guards. From Donovan Mitchell, to Ja Morant, to De’Aaron Fox, all of whom finished with at least 24 points and for the most part, tore up the Raptors. But Steph Curry, who you would think would do the most damage out of all of those names, certainly did not.
Curry was held to just two points at the break, and held to only nine points come the final whistle. He finished 2/14 from the field and 0/9 from three. Curry had a 268 game streak of making at least one three pointer snapped earlier in the year, and was held off from cashing in from downtown once again. That was in large part thanks to Scottie Barnes who was his primary defender. Since the trade Barnes has been defending above the three point line against opposing teams guards, while before he was more of a weak side rim protector and excelling. This was his best defensive of game while defending the other teams ball handler.
It should be noted that no one player can stop Curry, and the help defence was on point all night in helping contain Curry and the Warriors, with Dennis Schroder and Pascal Siakam also doing a great job specifically as well.
And of course, we can’t forget about the most important moment of the night… Otto Porter Jr. finally got his ring!
