Barnes starts, Boucher finishes as Raptors hunt Steph Curry for the win
If there were a wish list that the Raptors had for what they needed to go right in this game, they got most of it in the first half.
- An overwhelming dependence on Steph Curry for the Warriors
- A fairly dominant scoring start for Scottie Barnes
- A strong shooting start for the Raptors overall
A lot of these things were motivating the others as well, which is kind of fun. For example, Curry overextended himself again and again trying to squirt free for looks on offense, or to break through downhill to create for others; meanwhile on the other end the Raptors put him in a bunch of defensive actions – which is what you’re supposed to do to defensively limited stars.
We’ll talk about this again.
Putting Curry in the mixer allowed for more of Gradey Dick’s involvement — as they were matched up at times — and that paved the way for him to hit some early shots and create a bit more tension in how the Warriors guarded him. So, the Raptors used Dick as a screener more often and that opened up a lot of opportunity for Barnes, who hit jumpers and drove the ball a bit on his way to a really strong start as the lead initiator. The Raptors even figured out some rub screen/seal/roll man situations to deliver downhill touches and layups into RJ Barrett’s hands. Good, slick offense.
It’s all connected.
Additionally, the Raptors aren’t a huge team but they’re much larger than the Warriors. Whether it was Trayce Jackson-Davis, Andrew Wiggins, Dennis Schroder, or Kevon Looney – the Raptors (mostly Jakob Poeltl and Barnes) rotated hard to the rim and were able to deter shots from going up, or force misses. Low percentage shots at the rim, and a 30-percent start from downtown put the Warriors behind the 8-ball on that side of the floor.
All this, and the Raptors took a 2-point lead into halftime off the strength of 14 points and 8 rebounds from Barnes, and double-digit scoring from Dick. However, the Warriors had a response, as most NBA teams do.
The Warriors started initiating Curry’s possessions with off-ball into on-ball transitions to pull either Poeltl or Barnes higher so that slipping bigs or cutters would have less resistance at the rim if the Raptors wanted to guard Curry in 2-man and 3-man concepts, which they do. This allowed the Warriors to jump out to a quick lead in the 3rd quarter.
Looking for a way to keep pace, the Raptors slowed down theirs. They battened down the hatches in transition to keep the Warriors within arms reach as they did a pretty good job of avoiding crossmatches and never losing sight of shooters. On the other side of things, Barnes kept pushing the envelope as an initiator and created several high quality looks at the bucket for himself and others – closing out the 3rd quarter with 23 points and 4 assists.
Ultimately though, the Raptors went into the final frame down by 3.
The early part of the fourth quarter was, as everyone expected, a shooting exhibition between Chris Boucher & Lindy Waters III. Both of whom canned multiple triples and invigorated their teams with a bit of pep.
There was a particularly fun moment where Barrett got off the bench and headed to the scorers table to check in and as he got up Boucher received the ball in the corner. Barrett stuck his hand out to call the triple and held it, without looking as he walked to the table and the ball went into the bucket. Complete and total trust in Boucher to hit the shot.
Boucher remains, just, unbelievable over this past stretch of games.
A flurry of 6 combined points and a blocked 3-pointer between Poeltl & Boucher sent the Raptors up by 1, set the arena on fire, and for the first time got chants going. “DE-FENSE” broke out! To match the intensity of the Canadian crowd, both Wiggins and Barrett hit shots to tie the game up 93-93 with just under 5 minutes left. Clutch time, almost by definition.
What do great players do in clutch time? Well, they typically make plays. After Curry drew a defensive foul — Davion Mitchell & Poeltl squished him like jelly in a sandwich — he came off a pin-down the very next play and canned a three. The Raptors crowd went berserk. Cheering. Sigh. Afterwards, Barnes got a steal, missed a layup, and who else but Boucher flew in from seemingly nowhere for a putback dunk. Incredible.
Remember, we talked about the Raptors picking on Curry? Well, they filtered through screening options until they found Curry to put in the pick n’ roll, Barrett got a driving angle and found Boucher for a triple. Insanity.
Then the Raptors doubled Curry after a pump fake and he found Kyle Anderson for three. THEN, Barrett rumbled middle and found Boucher for a layup. Insane, this guy.
The Raptors kept searching for Curry on defense, and they didn’t care if it meant that Ochai Agbaji became the shot maker, and he did, curling off of a pin-down into a layup against the greatest shooter of all time. Wiggins tried to match that with a push shot of his own, which he missed, and then Boucher got the rebound. This guy is everywhere. The Warriors also just started switching Curry out of actions. His guy is cutting? Just keep Curry where he’s at. Keep him away from the ball.
Curry missed a three, ball gets tapped out, to BOUCHER AGAIN, and he hits Agbaji in open court for a dunk. Raps up 3. Warriors miss a couple shots. Raps win.
Stars make plays in the clutch, and Boucher dominated it. His run of play has been incredible. Hardly any words for what he’s been able to do in the minutes he’s been afforded. Stunning.
Have a blessed day.
The post Barnes starts, Boucher finishes as Raptors hunt Steph Curry for the win first appeared on Raptors Republic.