The Toronto Raptors beat the Milwaukee Bucks, who were without Giannis Antetokounmpo. Brandon Ingram poured in 29 points and Scottie Barnes added 24 points and 11 rebounds in a win. Without Jakob Poeltl or RJ Barrett, Sandro Mamukelashvili and Ochai Agbaji started.
In my latest film room, I breakdown how Scottie and Ingram dominated together.
Here is Louis Zatzman recapping the game:
Scottie Barnes and Brandon Ingram are dominating. This is the vision of their tandem stardom, each filling in the holes in the other’s game. They work together, and separately, both proving to be powerful beyond measure. They thrive, every time one of the them touches the ball a boon to the Toronto Raptors’ offence. These are elite players, two of the best in the NBA. This is what a good partnership looks like:
Barnes blocks a shot at the rim, discos his way down the floor for a layup. He leaks out in transition, catches in traffic, and bowls a bounce pass to Immanuel Quickley for a triple. It’s missed, so Barnes taps-taps-taps the ball to himself for an I’m-bigger-than-all-of-you offensive rebound.
Meanwhile, Brandon Ingram flows like liquid swords into his jumper. He steps into a 3-pointer, another, curls around a corner triple. He’s counting by higher numbers than the Milwaukee Bucks.
Barnes had subbed out but quickly enters the game as Toronto’s defensive teeth had been filed without his league-leading ability to steal and block the ball. He hits a jumper in the post, drifts to the rim on defence to punch a ball off the backboard as a hapless Buck dares to loft it too soft in his presence. His younger teammates turn the ball over needlessly, and Barnes and fellow defensive stud Collin Murray-Boyles force a turnover defending in transition. Barnes drives on the following possession, fakes a fadeaway, steps through the lane, and dunks uncontested after his whirling move. Did someone say Pascal Siakam?
Then he buries a triple, stepping into a shot several feet behind the line in semi-transition.
Barnes starts the second quarter as the delay hub on offence, playing center with Sandro Mamukelashvili playing power forward alongside him. He runs an impression of Domantas Sabonis, with rapid touches, screens, handoffs, toggling the ball along the perimeter. He creates a wide-open triple for his teammates, which is missed, so Barnes unfurls his Tall-Ship arms and snatches the offensive rebound over a Buck. Toronto again can’t do anything with the possession, and the ball fumbles out of bounds. Barnes hits a jumper to simplify things. Then hits a hanging middy on the next possession.
Turnovers keep Milwaukee in the game. Needless ones, ugly ones, turnovers from all over the court. But the boulder keeps rolling down the hill. Ingram draws two defenders, toggles the ball along to teammates. Fitting into the system. The next possession he gets downhill for a twisting layup using every inch of his outrageous wingspan.
