Quick Reaction: Raptors 106, Wizards 82

Quiet, but solid. I asked Darko Rajakovic about Barrett’s defence after the Pelicans game, and he explained that a team can’t play good defence if even a single player isn’t on a string. Barrett has been on a string for a few games now, and that continued against Washington. His tenacity and focus were huge in Toronto’s 14-0 start. The driving was huge in keeping Toronto ahead when the team’s focus waned with the game mostly in hand.

A tale of two sides of the court: Offensively, he did what he needed, and no more. Defensively, he was a monster, looking to embarrass his opponents. He was quiet early in the game, letting his teammates take the spotlight as Toronto stormed out to a lead. As Toronto needed more from him in the second, with Washington coming back, he fell a little too in love with his 3-point jumper. Then turned to the post, to mid-rangers, and put Toronto’s foot back on Washington’s neck. He was the best player on the floor by such a wide margin.

A near-perfect game. Great lobs to Barnes for easy dunks. Ate in the post. He’s such a strong positional defender that against a team that has so little individual talent, Poeltl was simply in the way no matter where Washington turned. He walled off drives, protected the rim, was in passing lanes, was tipping away passes to his bigs, was cleaning the glass. Wowie.

He was living like a scavenger on the offensive end (open court, cuts, catch-and-shoot triples), and that’s the role for him. It’s a good life when there’s structure that allows such a slim role, and Toronto allowed it in this one. Defensively, he was very solid, even drawing a clear-path foul with an OG-like steal.

He was hitting late-clock jumpers and drives early, and it made him very complete. When Toronto got sloppy in the second quarter, his playing-within-himself turned into unnecessary turnovers. Good teams need point guards to settle things down during those moments, and Mitchell wasn’t able to. When Toronto got hot in the third, he scored more. When guards score it makes things easy! His defence, as always, was spectacular.

He’s been good for a long stretch now. Playing big minutes during Toronto’s winning streak, and it was no different here. Cuts, finishes, defence. Corner triples. He consistently made the extra pass, even setting up a Poeltl-Barnes lob by being patient and getting rid of it at the right time. Clean performance for a veteran who’s holding up the fort for a team that needs it from its veterans.

An energy-bringer. Offensively, he wasn’t perfect, but he hit the paint. His jumper remained a weapon. Defensively, his stunts and recovers have been iffy during his rookie season, often leading to open triples for his man or unnecessarily fouls. But against Washington they were better, really doing a great job of shrinking the court and moving plays along to other actions.

One of the worst games I’ve seen from him. That’s not an insult — everyone has a best game and a worst game. I usually like his bump-and-grind drives into mid-range artistry, but he got blocked (read: was fouled) from behind on his first attempt. Had a wild airball on a different attempt, was blocked from behind on another. He got lost a few times off-ball on defence, getting beaten as the stunter and letting his man drive past him on the catch. He had poor closeouts. The jumper was off.

Solid. Defensively held his position. (He did get VERY dunked on by Kuzma.) Hit the offensive glass. He even tossed in an and-1 on a drop-step against a mismatch. His funzo 3-pointer was half down before it popped out. (Then he missed his next by more.)

Remains cash. Points in a Can played very little and shot without a mite of hesitation, despite a vicious contest. No rim. But then in garbage time missed a movement 3 and committed two charges. So it ended up as a mixed bag.

Garbage time.

He’s found a really nice rotation with Barnes coming out early and then thriving in his second shift against bench guys. Hard to argue with the commitment on the defensive end right now from everyone. A confident team that knows itself and is winning games.