He enters the game only a few minutes into the first quarter and immediately picks up two fouls. That doesn’t deter him at all. In a game defined most of all by lethargy and resembling most of all old cigarette butts, AJ Lawson injects energy. Pace. He scuttles under the rim and grabs an offensive rebound, throws the ball back into the hoop. He hits a triple moments later before subbing out.
In Darko Rajakovic’s offence, there are points everywhere for those with legs to find them.
Lawson collects free throws like Pokémon as he hurls his body at the rim, often holding the ball behind him and flicking it towards the net as he plummets earthbound after the foul. He is Toronto’s only shooter connecting from deep, even as everyone else just keeps flinging the ball up there. He scores 16 points in the first half, one away from his soon-to-be-smashed career high. The most plugged-in could see this coming.
There are reasonable questions that could be asked of this game. If the Toronto Raptors insist on playing their best players to get them some run, while still letting the youngsters live or die in crunch time, then shouldn’t the best players be playing … well? Or at least, trying? If Scottie Barnes, Immanuel Quickley, and RJ Barrett are going to combine to shoot 8-of-27 in the first half, are they really accomplishing anything that couldn’t be accomplished in practice? (They finish 17-of-49.)
What skills are they legitimately developing in such a context?
It’s not just missed shots. They almost didn’t hit the paint as a trio in the first half, more or less settling for contested jumpers. Toronto has 28 offensive rebounds, en route to a franchise-high in rebounds. If anyone on the Raptors outside of Lawson had shifted out of first gear, the game would have been over long, long before the final buzzer.
Barnes had a team-worst plus-minus in the first half, and it showed. The offence was noticeably peppier, more energetic, when Jamison Battle replaced him. To be fair, this is only a criticism because of Barnes’ immense talent. He is simply too good for halves like these. And also to his credit, he is much more determined to reach the rim in the second half, driving with energy. He thunders a dunk home early, and misses a few others in the paint, but does well to get there. The pace of the offence is improved with him on the court in the second half.
But that’s not the story of the game, neither the ups nor the downs of the stars. It’s hard to blame players in not performing at their best when their bosses aren’t interested in winning. Barnes and Quickley and Barrett are going to get run, and the Raptors are unconcerned with winning or losing, so it’s not a surprise that the best players are taking it easy. The story is Lawson. He hits another 3-pointer midway through the third quarter. He had just missed a layup he created by absolutely flinging himself at the rim, but was not able to decelerate his arm fast enough to do anything other than clunk the ball off the backboard. He’s moving fast, too fast, but sometimes that’s a good thing when the rest of the offence is a raccoon that broke into a green bin. The triple gives him a career high in points and 3-pointers.
He hits another moments later. Then another. At this point, he is 6-of-8 from deep, while his teammates are 7-of-26. Quickley and Barnes are off the floor as he explodes, so he’s doing this sharing the main-guy duties with Barrett.
The Raptors pull away. A 14-point lead materializes. Lawson battles to grab a loose rebound as soon as the fourth quarter begins. He isn’t taking it easy. He isn’t reveling in his 3-point barrage. He’s doing the dirty work, too. As he should be. He boxes out, face-guarding opponents who don’t even both to crash because of him.
He draws free throws in an attempt from the corner as the Wizards are over-anxious to stop him. He gets a touch jittery and misses a few, but Jamal Shead storms down the lane for a putback dunk that looks makes him look a scooch like Allen Iverson if you squint. Shead has his glory stolen by the shot clock in the last outing. He’s out for blood, here. And sparked by the fury and the passion of his diminutive teammate, Lawson hits another triple moment later. He romps down the lane with two minutes left and sticks his right arm up at the rim, throws the ball in the cylinder as his body twists the other direction. He has 32 points and 12 rebounds.
If the tea leaves are to be believed, it’s going to be a sloppy mess for the rest of the Raptors’ season. Like the floor of a high school house party. There have been explosions already as the Raptors have leaned into the youth movement coming out of the All-Star break. Ja’Kobe Walter hit a game winner. Shead lost his to the ephemeral nature of linear time. Now Lawson has his moment.
These moments of raw magic won’t always be there over Toronto’s final games of the 2024-25 season. So enjoy them while you can.
