Week seven of the top plays is here as we started the week off with the win in Indiana and ended things last night in Golden State with a statement blowout victory. Let’s get straight into it.
10. Scottie dusts Walker
The Raptors kicked off their week 7 of top plays of the week in Indiana, and so do we as Scottie Barnes comes into the offensive half with a head of steam, dusts Jarrace Walker with a fake spin and drops off a nice dime down to Collib Murray-Boyles for a flush. Barnes had a game high of 13 assists this game, a number that will come up later, and he completely blew everyone out with his playmaking, as the next highest assists were six each from Jamal Shead, Andrew Nembhard, and T.J. McConnell.
9. A.J. Lawson through contact
Lawson didn’t have the craziest game as he was only out there for 11 minutes and came away with 6 points in the span of that time. This was a huge bucket for Toronto, though, as the Warriors were making a furious comeback in the third quarter after Toronto had a 30-point lead and A.J. Lawson’s aesthetic finish through contact helped regain some momentum for the Raptors that was slipping away very fast.
8. CMB rejects Doncic
This was the last outing we saw CMB in, as he suffered a thumb contusion in the second half of the game, and it really sucked for him and Raptors fans, as he was playing lights out in La La Land. How about 11 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists along with 3 blocks in 25 minutes. The Lakers’ commentators were starstruck by Murray-Boyles, and he ended up delivering a good one. Luka Doncic, if you don’t know, NOW YOU KNOW who CMB is.
7. Gradey through contact
Just like A.J. Lawson, Gradey Dick also had an aesthetically pleasing finish through contact, as this one wasn’t as big momentum-wise, but it comes with a much better play overall. CMB’s bounce pass was a thing of beauty, and Toronto does what they do best, beat teams in transition, as this was 2 of their 20 points in the break for this game.
6. Scottie leaves Pacers in the dust yet again
We talked about Barnes’ playmaking in this one during the tenth play of the week, and now we’ll focus on the most exciting part of basketball, the scoring. Along with his game-high 13 assists, he was tied for the second most points from both sides in this one with 26 points, and this spin move on a smaller Quenton Jackson was like they didn’t even account for the spin, it was way too free, especially for a master spinner like Pascal Siakam, who should have known better.
5. Scottie’s touch pass
I know it’s a ton of Scottie in Indiana, but man, he was just amazing this game, and this was by far his best play of the game. The initial pass from Gradey Dick into the paint for Scottie Barnes puts Barnes into a sticky situation as the double comes from T.J. McConnell, who leaves his man in the corner. Scottie sees this and thinks quickly, adjusts to the situation and just tips the ball in A.J. Lawson’s direction. A great heads-up play that just shows you how special a player Scottie is, especially when it comes to playmaking.
4. Raptors finish off a wild possession
This possession was a low-key beauty, as beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. It is a very chaotic play with a ton of loose balls and hard times to corral the ball, but it’s got a bit of everything. Teamwork with the ball movement, Gradey’s grit and hustle, Lawson’s amazing rebound that he skies for and throws a pass that looks like it surely will be picked off due to how long it stays in the air, but in the end, Toronto’s determination actually leads to a Dick floater.
3. Immanuel Quickley’s night in Golden State
It was a tied career high of 40 points for Immanuel Quickley last night as he was on fire all night long. He added 10 assists and was just the second Raptor of all time to record a 40-point and 10-assist game, joining Air Canada himself, Vince Carter. He made even bigger history, as he was the lone player to record 40+points, 10+assists, 5+ threes while shooting over 80 percent from the field. Just a crazy game from IQ, and hopefully this gets him in a nice stretch of consistent performances going forward.
2. Jamal Shead’s nice assist on his career night
We finally come back to the number 13 that I teased back in the tenth best play of this week with Scottie, as Jamal Shead also had a career high of 13 assists in this late meltdown against the LA Clippers. He added 15 points in the overtime defeat as Toronto were in the driver’s seat for most of this one, but their offence dried up late in the fourth quarter and for pretty much the whole of overtime outside of Scottie Barnes.
1. Raptors once again execute a 2014 Spurs-like possession
This is a weekly in our top plays of the week, as the possessions where the majority of the team are touching the ball are one of my favourite things the Raptors can do on offence. This might be the best of them all, though, as the sped-up touch passes by Barnes and Sandro Mamukelashvili were beautiful, plus it’s usually four Raptors who touch the ball, but on this one, everyone touched it, and your top scorer was the last one to touch it and find a good, clean look to end the possession. If you don’t like that, you don’t like NBA Basketball.
Team ball shines in this week’s edition of top plays of the week.
