Scottie Barnes leads charge in statement win against Cleveland

After their early season struggles, Toronto set out last night to prove that they could punch up at one of the leading teams in their conference. Toronto had already beaten Cleveland prior to last night’s game, but that was without many of their top players. In this game, Cleveland would be near full strength, and Toronto was still able to dominate this game.

The game opened up pretty muddy, both sides began 3/9 from the field, and were going nowhere fast. Plenty fast break possessions from both sides, but not much reward reaped from it in the early minutes.

Toronto’s offense began to stall ever more as the reserves came in, Cleveland went into a zone defense and Toronto had trouble breaking it. Cleveland went on a 10-3 run to earn a 26-17 lead, which included a dazzling spinning floater from Donovan Mitchell through contact. Toronto’s troubles were exacerbated by their fouling early as well, sending Cleveland to the line for 11 free throws. Constant rim pressure from Cleveland led to what seemed like an endless stay at the free throw line for them.

Jamal Shead’s imprint on this game was very prevalent, he had a nice pass to Brandon Ingram in the dunker’s spot after a drive for a layup, and on the next possession he banked in an end of the clock triple to cut the lead to 1. Toronto answered Cleveland’s run with a 9-0 run of their own, Cleveland’s offense was much less potent without a true center in. 

Mamu came off the bench and had an immediate impact, he took the ball coast to coast for a layup and hit a semi-transition three to keep this game within one possession. Scottie Barnes led the team with 7 early points, and he was everywhere on defense as well, recording 3 blocks in the opening period alone.


Although they weren’t receiving much contribution from RJ Barrett and Ingram, Toronto’s offense was still flowing well. Skip passes kept Cleveland in rotation, attacking off of these passes led to open triples, which Toronto was taking advantage of, and Mamu continued to attack in multiple ways, such as finishing at the rim after cutting. Cleveland’s offense found themselves stonewalled often by Barnes and company, Mamu was also helping at the rim well in addition to everything else he was doing. Craig Porter Jr. was oddly the one keeping things within reach for Cleveland during the second quarter, with him being the one to hit a shot to answer Toronto’s runs multiple times.

Immanuel Quickley began the game perfect from the field, he had a layup with great touch in transition, and he fired a bomb from 35 feet that dropped as well, it was a welcome sight to see him playing efficiently.

Barnes’ mid range touch was a sight to behold, he used his size to back defenders down to his spots and he would simply rise up over them with a soft jumper or floater that would drop in.

Toronto was playing with blazing speed to close out the first half, not allowing Cleveland a chance to get their defense set more often than not. Toronto stopped sending Cleveland to the line, they held Mitchell and Mobley a mere 15 points combined in the first half, and they were not letting Cleveland get second chances despite their size. Toronto was in full control of this game with a 67-54 halftime lead.

Barrett got his first basket of the game after a wide hand off from Jakob Poeltl which led to a layup for him, extended the Raptors lead to 17 and forced J.B Bickerstaff to call an early timeout at the beginning of the second half. Cleveland sat their stars out in the first leg of their back-to-back, but with the way Cleveland was playing it seemed like they didn’t.

Ingram began to find his shot in the third quarter, with a pair of mid-range fadeaway jumpers over De’Andre Hunter. Cleveland went to a zone defense again and had some success in slowing down Toronto’s offense. Barnes would flash middle to try and break the zone but getting him the ball in that spot proved to be difficult and led to Cleveland cutting the lead to under double digits.

Ja’Kobe Walter got his first basket of the game with a weak side cut to the basket off a pass from Barnes out of the post. Cleveland persisted with their 2-3 zone and Toronto really struggled to shoot them out of it, even with multiple chances. Toronto lost sight of Nae’Qwan Tomlin a few times toward the end of the third, and he took advantage of this lack of attention on him with dives to the rim from the corner and some putback layups.

In the closing moments of the third quarter Cleveland cut the lead down to 6, with Barnes out of the game Toronto was not able to generate the transition looks they did earlier, nor were they generating paint touches at a good rate. Rebounding also plagued Toronto as the third period wore on, and their lead dwindled away slowly as a result of these shortcomings. As if things weren’t already getting out of hand, Mitchell was awarded two free throws as a result of a Walter foul on his end of quarter heave.

Quickley knocked down a three in transition after a pass from Mamu who was falling out of bounds. This three quieted the run the Cleveland was trying to put together to claw back into this game. The duo of Barnes and Poeltl were like a hammer and a mallet in the paint during the final period. With Allen off the floor for the early portion of the fourth they just dominated at the rim and kept Toronto ahead. When Quickley’s outside shot is falling it makes everything else come easier to him, he was firing from three but he was also able to get in the lane out of pick n’ rolls and dictate offense from in between. Quickley has been playing well recently and last night was just the continuation of that.

Last night was the ideal night in terms of a win for Toronto. They got contributions from all over the rotation, the ball moved well, and the defensive rotations were key in holding Mobley to a poor game as well. Barnes pushing the ball on nearly every rebound or inbound led to some quick looks with Cleveland still getting set. Barnes finished with a monster 28 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists and 5 blocks, he truly took over this game in every way he could. Hit ahead passes in transition, bruising defenders in the post, mid-range touch, and protecting the paint in a way that few can. 

Getting a win like this, a win where you control most of the game by playing your style, over one of the eastern conferences top teams is an encouraging sign for this team and makes Toronto’s aspirations this season seem even more attainable.

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