The Knicks saw both versions of Scottie Barnes, and the gap between them was impossible to miss.
Barnes came out with force, putting up 23 points, three rebounds, four assists and four blocks in 28 minutes while shooting 9-of-15 from the floor and 4-of-5 from deep. He opened by scoring easily at the rim, then mixed in baseline fadeaways before finishing the first quarter by burying a pair of threes. By the end of the opening period, he had already taken nine shots, and Toronto’s offense looked loose and connected.
He wasn’t just scoring, either. Barnes was pushing the action as a playmaker from the start, forcing the defense to react and finding the open man or advancing the ball in transition.
Then the energy dipped. Across the second and third quarters, Barnes took only three shots over 12 minutes and drifted into a more passive stretch, no longer demanding the ball the way he had early on.
In the fourth, though, he flipped it back on. With Toronto down eight entering the final quarter, Barnes attacked again and helped drag the Raptors back into the game.
That’s the part that keeps standing out: when Barnes is on, Toronto’s offense looks completely different.
The Raptors’ two best scoring quarters against New York were the first and the fourth, and that wasn’t hard to connect. When Barnes is assertive, he changes the whole shape of the offense.
Defenses have to treat him like a scorer first, and that opens everything else up. Once they lean harder on him, his vision takes over and he starts making the right reads.
None of this is about his defense. Barnes remains exactly what he’s been on that end - a special player who lifts Toronto’s ceiling every time he’s out there, and someone who should be in the All-Defensive conversation again this year.
The issue is what happens on offense. Barnes can look like two different players depending on the moment, and that roller coaster has become the frustrating part. The version that showed up to start the game is the version Toronto needs more often: aggressive, controlled, and still fully inside the flow of the offense.
It’s fair to note that he doesn’t need to carry everything. Toronto has real help around him, especially with Kawhi Leonard now in town, and a year-two jump from Collin Murray-Boyles would further ease the load. Barnes is already the anchor on defense, so nobody should expect him to drive the offense on every possession.
But the ceiling for this team on that side of the ball depends on Barnes turning that offensive switch on far more often than he did here. One hot opening.
One strong finish. That’s not enough if Toronto wants the best version of itself.
In Other News...
Scottie Barnes Had The Perfect Reaction To An Awkward Raptors Moment
Preseason warmups tend to produce a few odd moments, and Scottie Barnes delivered one of the stranger ones before Toronto faced the Knicks. While going up for a 360-degree dunk attempt, Barnes had a wardrobe malfunction when his pants slipped down, turning what was supposed to be a routine bit of looseness into an awkward scene before tipoff.
Barnes handled it with the kind of humor Raptors fans have come to expect, later poking fun at the incident on Instagram. The moment barely lingered once the game started, anyway, as Barnes moved on to help Toronto roll to a 148-98 preseason win with 19 points, six rebounds, four assists, two steals and one block. [Read more 🡒]
Collin Murray-Boyles Is Flashing What The Raptors Frontcourt Needs
Collin Murray-Boyles gave the Raptors a promising glimpse in preseason action against the Knicks, and the part that stood out most was the shot he added to his game. He went 7-for-7 from the field and knocked down both of his three-point attempts, a small sample but an encouraging one for a Toronto frontcourt that could use more spacing after a recent free agency departure.
For a team trying to sort out how its big men fit together, Murray-Boyles showing real touch away from the rim matters. If the shooting gains hold, it could sharpen his path to a meaningful role and give Toronto another frontcourt option who can stretch the floor instead of crowding it. [Read more 🡒]
Knicks Could Get A Very Different Raptors Test This Time
The Raptors are heading back to Madison Square Garden for another preseason look at the Knicks, and the backdrop is a little different this time. Toronto already flattened New York in its most recent meeting, but the real value now is less about the score and more about what this stretch is revealing as the regular season creeps closer. The roster is still taking shape, and after waiving Trey Jemison III, the team has two two-way spots left to sort through.
New York, for its part, is expected to answer with a stronger lineup after the lopsided result in the last meeting. That should give Toronto a more useful measuring stick as it continues working through lineup and rotation decisions, especially with so many of those choices still unsettled. Preseason games rarely tell the whole story, but this one figures to say more about where both teams really stand. [Read more 🡒]