Welcome to the inaugural edition of Raptors Roundup! A weekly recap of everything going on in the world of the Toronto Raptors, and a little preview of what’s coming up.
In this edition we’ll discuss the three big wins against the Brooklyn Nets, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Indiana Pacers before diving into some trends from the week. Then, we crown the Raptor of the week and look at some of the big news stories. Finally, we’ll take a sneak peek at what Week 4 brings for the Toronto Raptors.
Game Summaries
Raptors take care of business against a league-worst defense, defeating the Nets 119-109.
The Raptors kicked off the week with a matchup in Brooklyn, looking to take advantage of a Nets defense that allowed 126.6 points per 100 possessions. Things were looking slightly precarious to open this one as the Nets got out to an early lead:
Pair Demin’s fast start with a Nic Claxton lob, who drew a technical free throw on top of that, and the Nets jumped out to an early 6-0 lead. Another pair of Claxton buckets — who finished with a season-high 21 points to go along with eight rebounds, four assists, and four stocks — helped extend the Nets’ lead to 13-6, as the team started 5-for-5 from the field. This led to a Darko Rajakovic timeout, not even three minutes into the game.
The lobs in the pick-and-roll continued to eat the Raptors alive defensively, as 16 of Brooklyn’s 30 first-quarter points were in the paint.
Toronto finished the frame strong, however. A pair of Scottie Barnes buckets, plus triples from Ja’Kobe Walter and Jamison Battle off the bench, helped Toronto end the opening quarter on a 7-0 run, but still trailed Brooklyn 30-28.
Coty Wiles – Quickley, Raptors battle back from slow start to take down lowly Nets
The game was fairly close until the end, partially due to the Nets outscoring the Raptors by 15 from three, who were missing the live wire energy that Sandro Mamukelashvili provides off the bench as he was out with a neck injury.
Ultimately, Toronto’s largest lead of the game came in the final three minutes, as Quickley and the rest of the Raptors’ starters, including Jakob Poeltl — who returned in this one after missing the last game — were able to close out the Nets in the Barclays Center.
In an uninspiring performance the Raptors managed to come away with a 119-109 win, improving to 6-5. Brandon Ingram and Immanuel Quickley led the way in this one, combining to score 49 points, grab 13 rebounds and dish out 9 assists. Check out everyone’s statlines here.
In a team-best performance, Raptors defeat Cavaliers 126-113
In the biggest test of the Raptors season thus far, Toronto was once again off to a slow start:
Toronto’s offense began to stall ever more as the reserves came in, Cleveland went into a zone defense and Toronto had trouble breaking it. Cleveland went on a 10-3 run to earn a 26-17 lead, which included a dazzling spinning floater from Donovan Mitchell through contact. Toronto’s troubles were exacerbated by their fouling early as well, sending Cleveland to the line for 11 free throws. Constant rim pressure from Cleveland led to what seemed like an endless stay at the free throw line for them.
Mikai Bruce – Scottie Barnes leads charge in statement win against Cleveland
As the game went on, the transitional lineups proved to be too much for Cleveland, big performances from Jamal Shead and Sandro Mamukelashvili earned them a +15 and +8 plus/minus, respectively.
However, it was the trio of Barnes, Quickley, and Poeltl who sealed this one for the Raptors. Barnes was demolishing shots at the rim and pushing the ball in transition, either taking it to the hoop himself or dropping dimes to a variety of Raptors running the floor. The primary receiver of Scottie Barnes passes was Poeltl, four of Barnes’ eight assists were to the big man, who finished with a season-high 20 points. If that weren’t enough to take the win, Quickley continued his hot-shooting, knocking down five of his seven three-point attempts en route to a 25 point night.
This was quite possibly the best game of Barnes’ young career, posting a 4×5 with 28 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists, and 5 blocks. The dominant performance came at a great time as Brandon Ingram and RJ Barrett struggled. Check out the individual stats here.
Raptors close out road-trip with a 129-111 win in Indiana against a familiar face
For the third time this week, the Raptors started the game sluggish. Andrew Nembhard hit three three-pointers early, pushing the Pacers lead to 10 at the 6 minute mark of the opening frame. The starting lineup had once again dug themselves into an early hole, looking to the bench to even things up.
However, the stars of the first quarter, as ever, was the bench. Sandro Mamukelashvili, Jamal Shead, Collin Murray-Boyles and Gradey Dick checked in to go on their big, customary run. This time, like many other times, being spurred on by the shooting and driving of Mamu – who was a livewire on offense. A handful of +11’s and +12’s later, the Raptors found themselves up by 3 heading into the second quarter.
Samson Folk – Starting lineup questions still persist after Raptors rout of Pacers
The injury-ravaged Pacers continued to fight, led by NBA Champion Pascal Siakam who finished with 30 points on the night. Unfortunately for him, his performance was not nearly enough as the Raptors ran out in transition over and over, scoring 33 points on the fast break and dominating in the paint, where they scored 78 of their 129 points.
This was truly a team win, with seven players scoring 10+ points. The resurgence of Barrett and the improved health of Poeltl led the way in this one as they each finished with 22 points. Take a look at all the stats here.
Trends of the Week
- Starting Lineup Struggles – In every single game this week, the starting lineup was down when Rajakovic went to the bench. While the Raptors still managed to win all three games, starting every game in a hole isn’t ideal. Relying on the bench to spark a comeback every night is not a sound strategy, even if it is currently working. The starters haven’t had much time together, and with a stretch of easier opponents coming up they deserve the chance to figure it out, but if the trend continues changes will have to be made.
- Rebounding rate way up – Heading into the week the Raptors were the 27th ranked rebounding team, grabbing 47.4% of all available rebounds. This week, they were the 5th ranked rebounding team, grabbing 55.1% of all available rebounds. While having Poeltl back helped, a small tweak was made that had a profound impact in more ways than one. The Raptors have Barnes staying back far more often to clean the glass. Earlier in the year he would often be the one leaking out in transition to finish plays, but now he’s initating them himself, grabbing the rebound and pushing the ball. Before the week, Barnes was scooping up 15.1% of the Raptors defensive boards, but over the last three games, that number has skyrocketed to 23.9%. If you’re interested in seeing more about this tweak, RR’s Esfandiar Baraheni covered it in the recap of the Cavaliers game.
- Point guards dominated – What a week for the Raptors point guard duo of Immanuel Quickley and Jamal Shead. Both were incredible, but in very different ways. Quickley found his shooting stroke, making 10 of his 21 attempts from deep, which boosted his confidence and overall level of play. Shead on the other hand, showcased his playmaking wizardry with 16 assists across the three games. While Shead typically subs in for Quickley, they have played more minutes together of late and are a formidable backcourt pairing with a net rating of +39.48 in 26 minutes.
Raptor of the Week
Every week, I want to highlight a player that performed well above their typical production, a player that really excelled not just in one game, but throughout the entire week. For the first edition, I narrowed it down to three candidates before deciding who would take home the honours:
- Immanuel Quickley: 20.3 points, 4.0 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 0.7 stocks on 63/48/50 splits
- Scottie Barnes: 19.0 points, 10.7 rebounds, 6.3 assists and 3.3 stocks on 55/14/93 splits
- Jakob Poeltl: 18.0 points, 8.7 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 2.3 stocks on 80/0/58 splits
So many incredible performances this week made the choice a tough one, I alone couldn’t decide so I posed the question to my fellow contributors at Raptors Republic. After tallying the votes, it was a tight race, but we had our winner. So without further ado, congratulations to the very first Raptor of the Week, Scottie Barnes!
For a team seeking leadership, Barnes stepped up big time. Sure, he was blocking shots, grabbing rebounds, playmaking, and getting buckets. But it’s the way in which he does these things that inspires teammates, when you see the highest-paid player on your team lying down gasping for air after being subbed off, it lights a fire. Barnes took the reins this week, and so I can think of no player more deserving of the inaugural Raptor of the Week award than Barnes.
News stories
November 10th – Former Raptors head coach Lenny Wilkens dead at 88
Lenny Wilkens, a three-time inductee into the Basketball Hall of Fame who was enshrined as both a player and a coach, has died, his family said Sunday. He was 88.
Wilkens coached three seasons with the Toronto Raptors from 2000-2003 and led the franchise to its first playoff series win in his first season as head coach.
November 10th – Raptors’ Ingram fined $25,000 for water bottle throw
Toronto Raptors’ wing Brandon Ingram has been fined $25,000 for “forcibly throwing his water bottle to the floor while on the bench,” during the Raptors’ 130-120 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Nov. 8 at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
The bottle made contact with a game attendant and caused a game delay to dry the court, which occurred with 6:25 remaining in the third quarter.
November 13th – Report: Raptors’ Mahlalela amongst finalists for Liberty head coach
After coaching in the NBA for 10 years, Jama Mahlalela is in consideration to fill new Toronto Tempo head coach Sandy Brondello’s shoes.
The Toronto Raptors assistant is one of three finalists for head coach of WNBA’s New York Liberty, insider Jake Fischer reported on Thursday.
November 15th – Raptors’ Scottie Barnes reaches 5,000 career points
Scottie Barnes has joined an exclusive club amongst all-time Raptors greats.
The fifth-year forward eclipsed 5,000 career points on Saturday night, doing so in 289 games, which was tied with Kyle Lowry for the third-fastest to do it in a Raptors jersey.
He reached the milestone with a pair of free throws midway through the second quarter against the Indiana Pacers.
Looking ahead
Monday, November 17th – Hornets @ Raptors | 7:30pm on Sportsnet
Wednesday, November 19th – Raptors @ 76ers | 7:00pm on TSN
Friday, November 21st – NBA Cup game: Wizards @ Raptors | 7:30pm on Sportsnet
Sunday, November 23rd – Nets @ Raptors | 6:00pm on Sportsnet
Record prediction: 4-0
Thank you for reading the first edition of Raptors Roundup, if you have any suggestions for future editions let me know in the comments below! Happy Monday, let’s have a wonderful week!
