It didn’t take long at all for RJ Barrett to reassert himself as quality scorer. By not long at all, I don’t mean that he found his footing throughout the game and contributed well. I mean that he scored 9 points and passed Jakob Poeltl into a layup in his first 3 minutes of play as his presence radically altered how the Raptors are able to attack on offense. That kind of not long at all.
Drives that otherwise stop at the free throw line, an offense that consistently gets stuck above-the-break, well, Barrett is a one man antidote for that. Long steps to the rim that can result in layups or bullet passes to the corner; cuts through the breach like a running back punching the A gap – the things that make a defense exhibit a level of concern.
Scottie Barnes — whose will and resilience to score the ball has waned a little bit early in this season — immediately benefited from Barrett’s return, and vice versa. The Raptors big guard, who continues to draw major attention, was more than happy to flip the ball to a hard-charging Barrett, and Barrett was more than happy to surf calmly in the wake left behind Barnes. With this newfound vigor, the Raptors were putting the screws to the Nuggets early, and it was only the heroism and fantastical talents of Nikola Jokic (16 points 7-8 from the floor at the half) that kept his team afloat. The Raptors were inventive in putting their players in winning positions, and the Nuggets, well, they just made sure they gave the ball to Jokic wherever they could.
The Raptors, who have been ultra-reliant on Gradey Dick’s shooting and gravity, were able to survive a pretty terrible shooting start from him because of their resilience to get into the paint. Led by Barrett out of the gate, by Barnes throughout — who worked tirelessly from the low and high post to grind away for buckets — and all that with some clever dunker spot work from the likes of Jakob Poeltl, Jonathan Mogbo, and even Jamison Battle. We even got the classic Kyle Lowry/DeMar DeRozan ATB flip play, only from Jamal Shead & Ochai Agbaji (who also hit his triples in this one, and was damn good in general) AND from Davion Mitchell to Barrett for a thunderous dunk.
The Raptors maintained a pretty high level of ball pressure, limited the Nuggets volume from deep to funnel middle, and won the paint battle while taking 5-point lead into the 4th quarter.
Dick had a dominant stretch in the fourth quarter that’s worth pointing out. The ball found him at the end of the shot clock and he pulled it while getting fouled by Russell Westbrook. Then, he slid to the corner in support of a drive and cashed a corner triple. Then the Raptors once again ran the flare/spain play and the Nuggets overplayed Dick leaving Agbaji wide open in the dunker spot. THEN Dick lifted to support a pick n’ roll, took the pass in stride, and banged the triple. All that in roughly 2 minutes of gameplay. It was awesome, and a great example of how shooting warps defenses. That extended the Raptors lead, and then we got a stretch where Barnes had a huge chasedown block, a pull from 25 feet that he hit, and a bully-bash post up for free throws. Huge plays from the future of the Raptors.
These are champs though, and they have Jokic. They battered and bruised the Raptors repeatedly inside with their MVP, with Aaron Gordon, and with Christian Braun to create extra possessions and to will themselves back into it as Barnes & Barrett missed a few bunnies at the rim. The play that allowed them to draw within two points via a Russell Westbrook was the same stretch of play that sent Barnes to the locker room. In all of the rough and tumble battling for a board, Jokic’s elbow came down near Barnes’ eye, sending the Raptors star to the ground (and out of the game) and the Nuggets up court with a man advantage they would score on – and with 24 seconds left.
Agbaji was fouled and sent to the line, where he would split the pair. On the other side the Raptors allowed the switch of Jokic onto Mitchell and allowed the layup. Then Mitchell was sent to the line, where he would split the pair. A team with Jokic and Jamal Murray? We know what’s coming. A 2-man action that pulled so much of Poeltl and Mitchell to Jokic that Murray could knife to the rim for a layup. OVERTIME! FREE BASKETBALL!
The Nuggets scored on their first possession of overtime, a Jokic post-up that took him to 35 points. Responding in kind, the Raptors equalized by putting Jokic in the pick n’ roll and finding Poeltl cutting to the bucket. An and-1 for Murray and a triple from Jokic followed. A 6-point deficit came rapidly, then it became an 8-point deficit, and suddenly without Barnes the Raptors started to look overextended all over the court. To their credit though, the Raptors battled back as hard as they could. The fancy play design fell away to quite simply, Barrett running pick n’ roll and getting paint touches. Those strong, tough, last step finishes with the left hand found their way into the bucket. A three fell in from Mitchell, and then two free throws. The Raptors got the stops they needed to climb back to a two-point deficit.
Poeltl grabbed the board, found Barrett, and he sprinted up court to where he would miss the 3-point jumper that would have delivered the win, and Poeltl missed the put-back that would’ve sent the game to a second overtime. So close. So, so close. Hell of a game.
“I don’t know what player would tell you that.” Barrett said of preferring to play on instead of calling a timeout. “Open court, it was, everyone would rather have an open court instead of playing 5-on-5 against a set defense.” Adding later: “For me, I’m comfortable taking that shot. I’m happy with the shot I took. That’s who I am. That’s who I’ve always been. That’s just who RJ Barrett is.”
“The decision there is on the coach.” Rajakovic said of the final play. “Do I call a timeout to try to get us organized or try to run in the flow? After the defensive rebound there, I wanted the open court. I felt having the ball in his hands (Barrett) was a good decision. I’m not sure if he could go all the way to the rim and finish there. I have to take a look at that play again. I trust RJ. I trust his judgment there.”
Have a blessed day.