From Ian’s piece:
“The void left at centre forced Murray-Boyles to step in as the starting five and has necessitated him and Barnes playing alongside each other more often to provide requisite husk in the frontcourt. It isn’t groundbreaking to play a small-ball lineup with your two biggest forwards in the absence of a centre. But it’s required the Raptors to put their two best defensive players on the floor at once, uncovering the team’s best two-man lineup. In this case, necessity was the mother of invention.
In 22 games before Poeltl’s injury, the bruising duo played 150 minutes, or 6.8 minutes per game. Since they’ve played 247 minutes together over 12 games, or 17.6 minutes per game. In that span they have the best defensive rating (100.2) and second-best net rating (8.2) of any two-man lineup on the team with a decent sample (over 150 minutes). Their defensive rating is 2.8 points per possession better than the second-best two-man group, the same as the gap between the second and seventh pairings. The Raptors allow nine less points per 100 possessions with Barnes and Murray-Boyles on. The duo are big and long and strong enough to protect the rim, while also being switchable, and furthermore they can deter drives when off the ball with big stunts and recovers. Both are defensive weapons no matter where they find themselves on the court.
These numbers were even more pronounced before a couple of tough showings against the two Los Angeles teams. At that point they were 13th in defensive rating league wide, with eight of the top 13 pairings being on the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Raptors will need to see even more of Murray-Boyles and Barnes together to draw final conclusions, but it’s starting to appear that much of Toronto’s future success will be tied up in them sharing the court.
They’ve succeeded by dominating physically: Big, sweeping blocks. Grappling for ground under the rim. Jumping higher and reaching farther than their taller counterparts. Hammering down dunks. They’ve lived in the land of giants and made it their home.”
Have a blessed day.
