The Raptors got exactly the kind of response they needed on Wednesday night, blowing past the Orlando Magic 129-99 in the opener of a two-game homestand. With the news already out that Kawhi Leonard would be sidelined, Toronto needed a few players to step up and steady the ship.
Scottie Barnes and RJ Barrett did that. The frontcourt, on the other hand, was a mess.
Barnes was the headline. After going 0-of-12 against the Timberwolves on Sunday, he answered with 28 points, six rebounds, four assists, and five stocks while hitting 11-of-17 from the floor.
Defensively, he was everywhere. He protected the rim, attacked the glass, spent stretches functioning as Toronto’s center, and kept floating into passing lanes while rotating hard on the perimeter.
He also put together multiple strong on-ball possessions that helped shut down Magic players and generate important stops in the first half.
That was the kind of defensive bounce-back the Raptors needed from him after a game in which his engagement had looked, as the source put it, the worst it had seen in his Raptors career. Offensively, Barnes gave Toronto the version it will need if Leonard is not on the floor.
He opened slowly, settling for jumpers, but then took over in the second quarter as a playmaker and aggressor. By the third quarter, he was locked in, going 7-of-7 for 16 points with two rebounds and two assists, effectively ending any real Orlando comeback hopes.
RJ Barrett gave Toronto the early jolt. The Raptors had been flat offensively in back-to-back games, coughing up the ball, surrendering easy baskets, and settling for poor shots.
Barrett changed that in the first half, when he posted 21 points, six rebounds, and three assists on 8-of-11 shooting, including 3-of-5 from deep. He cooled off after halftime, finishing 1-of-7 the rest of the way with just three points, three rebounds, and three assists, but the damage was already done.
Without that opening burst from Barrett, this game might have gone in a very different direction. The Magic looked sharper from the start, and there was a real sense early that things could turn ugly for Toronto. Barrett’s ability to create a bucket on demand kept the Raptors from getting run over and again showed why he matters so much when Leonard is out.
The part of the night that should have Toronto worried was the big-man rotation. The frontcourt issue that has been hanging over this roster didn’t get any better, and that is a problem if Collin Murray-Boyles and Jakob Poeltl keep playing like this against Minnesota, Washington, and now Orlando.
Poeltl never found his footing. He struggled in coverage, gave up very little on the glass, piled up bad fouls, and offered almost nothing offensively.
He finished with two points, two rebounds, and five fouls in just 10 minutes. Two fouls in four minutes forced Darko Rajakovic to alter the rotation early, and that was a bad sign from the jump.
Murray-Boyles was only slightly better. His defensive activity was stronger than Poeltl’s, but he still looked chaotic, too eager to cover for everyone else and not nearly disciplined enough.
He picked up two fouls early as well, and Rajakovic had to turn to third-string center Trayce Jackson Davis around the halfway point of the first quarter. Murray-Boyles is supposed to be a stopper and a stabilizer when Barnes sits, but he was nowhere close to that role Wednesday night.
The 24 total minutes the duo logged in a 48-minute game, along with 10 combined fouls, is a problem. Against a Magic frontcourt described in the source as mid, that level of breakdown is hard to excuse. Barnes and Barrett gave the Raptors a much-needed lift, but the issues in the middle remain impossible to ignore.
In Other News...
Allen Graves Is Giving The Raptors Something They Desperately Need
Allen Graves has given the Raptors a useful jolt in the opening stretch of his NBA career, and it has come in the area where they can least afford to be soft. Through his first three games, he has chipped in modest offense while making his presence felt around the rim, where his blocks and rebounding have stood out in limited minutes. For a Toronto group still sorting out its identity early in the season, that kind of low-usage, high-impact production is the sort of thing coaches notice quickly.
Graves also arrives at a time when the Raptors are still looking for more answers from deep. Jamison Battle, JaKobe Walter and Immanuel Quickley have carried most of the load from beyond the arc so far, but Toronto needs more than a few reliable shooters to keep defenses honest. If Graves can eventually stretch his game outward to match the defensive value he is already providing, he could become even more important to a roster that is trying to patch together two-way stability wherever it can find it. [Read more 🡒]
Scottie Barnes Is Raising A Real Concern For The Raptors Offense
Scottie Barnes early-season shot diet is turning into a small but meaningful issue for Torontos offense. Instead of living around the rim the way he has in the past, Barnes is taking more mid-range looks than attempts in the restricted area, a notable shift for a player the Raptors need to anchor both as a scorer and as a creator. Coach Darko Rajakovic said opposing defenses have played a role in that change, but the message from the bench is clear: Barnes has to keep pressuring the paint while still helping set the table for everyone else.
The concern is less about one off night than the direction of the possession-by-possession picture. Barnes has had solid games to open the season, but a poor shooting performance against the Minnesota Timberwolves was another reminder that Toronto cant afford for him to drift too far from the areas where he does his best work. The Raptors still need his playmaking, but they need his rim pressure even more, and finding that balance may end up shaping how effective the offense can be. [Read more 🡒]
Raptors-Magic Suddenly Looks Very Different After New Injury News
The matchup that had already been drawing attention now carries a very different feel after the latest injury updates. Toronto will be without Kawhi Leonard for several weeks because of right knee inflammation, a setback that changes the way the Raptors have to approach both their rotation and their margin for error. For a team trying to keep pace in the East, losing a top-end presence like Leonard is the kind of news that ripples beyond one game.
Orlando is dealing with its own lineup squeeze, with Paolo Banchero set to miss 4-6 weeks because of a right high ankle sprain and Jalen Suggs out for two games with a right knee bone bruise. There is at least one small piece of relief for the Magic, since Anthony Black was initially questionable but has been cleared to play, giving Orlando another available body in a game that suddenly looks far more about adjusting on the fly than star power. [Read more 🡒]