Scottie Barnes’ first real night without Kawhi Leonard didn’t go the way the Raptors needed it to go.
Toronto was handled by the Minnesota Timberwolves 117-94 in its first game of the season without Leonard, and the result raised real questions about Barnes’ approach. With 79 games still left, nothing is set in stone, but his shot selection, his aggression and even his energy level stood out for the wrong reasons.
The matchup was always going to be a difficult one. Minnesota’s three-point shooting has been scorching to open the season, and Rudy Gobert’s size alone makes life hard for Toronto. Even so, with RJ Barrett starting fast, Immanuel Quickley finding his shot in the second quarter and Ja’Kobe Walter putting up 20-plus, Barnes didn’t need to have a huge game to keep this one from getting away.
Instead, he looked too passive. That’s the part that mattered most.
Barnes went 0-of-12 from the floor and missed all five of his threes, but the bigger issue was how little pressure he put on the defense. He didn’t get to the free-throw line at all, and he took just three shots at the rim in 28 minutes. When you’re expected to be the No. 1 option on a night when Leonard is resting, that can’t happen.
There’s nothing wrong with an off shooting night. Sometimes a player does the sensible thing and leans on playmaking instead of forcing the issue. Barnes has every right to try to keep his teammates involved and conserve energy for defense.
But on this night, that balance didn’t work. If the offensive assertiveness wasn’t there, the defensive effort needed to be.
It wasn’t. Barnes finished with four steals and one block, which still matters, but the energy on that side came and went.
At several points, he looked checked out, and that’s harder to ignore than the box-score highlights.
That’s what makes the night sting. Even with the defensive lapses, Barnes still produced five stocks, which says plenty about how much talent he has on that end.
But this was supposed to be a chance for him to step forward as a scorer and set the tone. He didn’t do that.
No one is sounding the alarm over one game. Minnesota is for real, and this result says as much about the Timberwolves as it does about Toronto. But with Leonard out, Barnes was the player who left the biggest concern behind.
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