Raptors finally turn on the BBQ against the Heat, yet lose
For almost the entirety of the 2023-24 season, the Toronto Raptors’ barbecue has been rained out.
Scottie Barnes has missed time with an orbital fracture, an ankle sprain. Immanuel Quickley with a UCL tear, a hip strain, a bruised pelvis. RJ Barrett has spent time with an illness and in concussion protocol. As a result, entering the game against the Miami Heat, the trio had spent only 127 minutes together on the court. (The largest minute total for a three-man lineup on the year so far is 1345.)
The Raptors had high hopes for their core trio. The BBQ bunch. Instead they’ve barely played together, appearing in just seven of 55 games entering the Raptors’ contest against Heat. It appeared, finally, that the team might be able to get its best players on the same page. There was something to that, with the three all shining for moments, both separately and in concert. It wasn’t enough to win, as the Heat topped Toronto 120-111.
It was disjointed, sure. Barnes even limped off the floor at one point, unable to put weight on his right ankle, only to return a few minutes later, cleared to play. But at times, the vision was clear. All three were defending, though of course Barnes was swallowing possessions whole while the other two were simply clearing their modest expectations.
Quickley was, finally, aggressive in hunting for his own shot. He finished with 23 points and 11 attempted triples. That is slowly becoming something of a trend. That he did it with Toronto’s two other shot leaders in the lineup is all the more meaningful. He will need to find his looks even when Brandon Ingram returns to the lineup, so finding triples now bodes well. He launched sprinting into dribble handoffs. At one point, he hit a deep pull-up triple, grabbed the defensive rebound on the other end, then in-and-out dribbled his way into another open pull-up triple on the ensuing offensive possession. Timeout Heat. Defensively, he wasn’t profound, even getting cooked in isolation against switches, but he read plays, even got a steal in the passing lanes in clutch time.
He spent oodles of time screaming ahead in transition, taking on a single defender, two, sometimes three. It didn’t go well, as he missed a ton at the rim in transition. But transition looks are good looks, and it’s a good thing that he created them. This is Process Season for the Raptors, not Results Season.
Barrett didn’t find his way into the game until later than his teammates, but he found his spots and then some by the end. He hit a few triples in the first half. In the second his driving game hit the ground running as he maneuvered into a push shot in the lane. He turned in an efficient scoring game as the third banana. But his defence was the real selling point. He was active off ball, closing off passing lanes. He even dug into the ball and picked up a few steals. For those keeping track at home, Toronto has been playing very solid defence for more than a month, and Barrett has been fitting into that. That’s more significant than anything he can show on the offensive end.
Barnes’ game was more muted. He had the fewest points and lost his minutes by the widest margin. He was quiet early, letting his teammates do the majority of the work. He mixed in a few drives, a few posts, especially when he got a mismatch on players like Tyler Herro. He hit a corner triple in the third. But he shifted his role far off the ball, which is a far cry from his extreme primacy earlier in the year. That meant his scoring was more efficient, but his passing opportunities had a wet blanket thrown on them as he spent so much less time on the ball, and so much less time moving in space.
Defensively, he attacked digs like my toddler attacks his snack when the dog is trying to get it. He forced a five-second count on an inbounds play with his activity. He swatted Bam Adebayo — who was his primary mark all night long.
The three co-existed.
“I think they were really trying to play unselfishly, to play for each other, to find open people,” said Rajakovic after the game. He admitted the trio really missed Jakob Poeltl as the connective piece.
They weren’t lobbing each other up like LeBron James and Dwyane Wade. But they were, at the very least, on the court together. That’s a start.
If that seems like a low bar to clear, perhaps it’s worth mentioning that Barnes, Quickley, and Barrett have had a net rating of negative-21.1 in their 127 minutes together so far this season. (Excluding the Heat game.) Among 70 Raptor trios to have played for at least 100 minutes together so far this season, that ranks 68th. Last season, the trio had a net rating of plus-3.3 in 439 minutes. This has been a step back from 2023-24, to be sure. The unit is supposed to be Toronto’s fast ball, yet it has been more of a T-ball set up for opposing home run swings. So even though the three have hardly played this season, it’s not like they’ve blown the doors off opponents in their limited time together. In fact, it has been just the opposite.
So the three returning to form, or something like it, against the Heat is meaningful. There is theory at work here. A rock-star shooter, a churning driver, and a genius passer should really be cooking with a flamethrower. In theory. Instead it’s been more like flint and steel.
And it’s not like the three blew the doors off the Heat, either. They held the fort, sure. But Toronto’s real minutes winners came off the bench, as rookies Jamal Shead, Ja’Kobe Walter, and Jonathan Mogbo changed the texture of the game with their pace and physicality. That’s a good thing, not a bad thing; even barbecues need other ingredients to truly be enjoyable. Sunshine. A good location. Teammates who can hit shots.
Darko Rajakovic seemed to tip his had on how he wants to use the trio together. Barnes and Quickley saw their minutes more or less tied at the hip, as has been Rajakovic’s modus operandi. Barrett saw time as the sole leader of bench groups. There is sound reasoning there, as Barrett’s net rating without the other two has been much better than Barnes’ on his own. His ability to drive deeper into the paint means more for lifting the floor of Toronto’s offence when there is less talent on the court. And Barrett’s teammates uplifted his minutes, with Shead creating paint touches at will, Walter hitting his jumpers, and even Gradey Dick breaking out of a funk for some second-half triples that brought the (excellent) crowd to its feet.
When Quickley and Barnes entered the game with just under five minutes remaining, the Raptors were within punching distance. And the trio put the game on their shoulders. Barrett hit a pull-up triple to tie. Then he took a staggered screen, danced his way into the lane, and tossed up a fadeaway floater (!) to put Toronto ahead with three minutes left. Quickley splashed a triple moments later. Dick broke a press, found Barnes, who dimed a cutting Barrett for the layup. A Barnes-Quickley pick and roll saw Barnes get downhill against a switch, but he missed the layup in traffic.
Which gave the Heat overtime. Which gave Tyler Herro too many chances. His pure bucket gettery was enough to overcome Toronto’s BBQ madness. Which is life when your best players are only appearing in their eighth game of the season together. In a season of wins and lessons, this Raptors loss lands firmly in the column of lesson. A good, meaningful one. The Raptors finally turned the gas on the barbecue. Perhaps later it will be time for the trio to cook.
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