Scottie’s Stardom & Do the Raptors have the players they need? w/ Caitlin Cooper

Samson Folk & Caitlin Cooper dive deep into the Raptors.

From Samson’s piece:

“A big reason for optimism in general? The Raptors All-Star, Barnes. He began the second half by stealing an entry pass to Siakam. Rotating over to block Nembhard at the rim. Finishing at the rim on the break. And finally, finding Ingram for a layup. He even had a big, and-1 drop step dunk over Furphy for good measure. In fact, the two All-Stars, Siakam and Barnes, were trading buckets to kick things off. My turn, your turn type stuff. Big forwards winding and creating towards the bucket. Good hoops. Only, Barnes’ scoring was bolstered by some outside shooting from Barrett and Quickley. It was one of the better stretches of the season for Barnes on the offensive side of the floor. A big burst of energy to start the second half for the Raptors. He vaulted them out in front and helped carry them through a massive 44-26 third quarter performance.

Barnes collected an accolade as well, as he surpassed Siakam for fifth on Toronto’s all-time double-doubles list with 103. Fun to do it with Siakam on the other end.”

From Samson’s piece:

Before we begin, it’s important to remember that the Raptors opened the season as one of the NBA’s worst defenses. They were embodying the catch phrases from training camp and preseason. They were, aside from the Portland Trailblazers — who were at the very forefront of all the ball pressure — the NBA’s number one ball pressure team. They chased and overextended. To quote Bilbo Baggins, they were: thin, sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread.”

“We were picking up, not just on dead balls, but free throws and made shots. A lot of times we were getting caught, and we weren’t ready to establish our defense. Our defense was exposed because of that. It opened up a lot of downhill drives and really hurt us in our transition (defense).” Darko Rajakovic told me. “We’re trying to be smarter about when to apply it. How does it work, if we have more time to go pressure and be up the floor when it makes sense. Adjusting to the demands of the game.”

Have a blessed day.

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