Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
Raptors Get 1st Look at Point Scottie & Other Takeaways from Toronto's Loss to the Cavaliers
The sixth seed in the Eastern Conference is quickly slipping away.
Whatever chances the Toronto Raptors had of avoiding the play-in tournament took a serious hit Sunday night following a 104-96 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
1. Point Scottie Opens to Mixed Reviews
All that film study of Magic Johnson is certainly paying off for Scottie Barnes who made his first career start as Toronto's "point guard" Sunday night. Just like Johnson in Game 6 of the 1980 Finals, Barnes took the opening tipoff for the Raptors, before settling into the point guard spot.
It went OK.
Barnes certainly has no problem running the point in transition. He's a magician with the ball in the full court, sending fastballs zipping across the court to find teammates streaking to the rim. He whizzed a pass between three defenders to find Chris Boucher for a transition bucket in transition.
"He has a great IQ. That's one of the players that I know, if I run to the rim and get open, he'll find me," Boucher said of Barnes. "It's really amazing to see as a rookie to have that IQ already and facilitating the ball. But that's nothing that you haven't seen."
Barnes does, however, still have a ways to go in the half-court. Toronto's lack of spacing certainly didn't help things, but the 6-foot-7 rookie didn't find much success against Cleveland's varying defensive schemes.
"I think most people, most guards when they're in the open floor, there's just so much more space to see probably a little bit. I think he's doing a good job of that," Raptors coach Nick Nurse said.
Nurse was generally pleased with how Barnes fared. While the rookie did miss some reads, he did a good job of executing play calls and getting the team into sets, Nurse said.
"I think it'll be a really good learning experience to just sit down and show him some tape and walk through what he's seeing and what other possibilities are there," Nurse added.
Barned deferred to Pascal Siakam in the half-court for most of the game, before calling his own number late in the fourth quarter, driving into the paint and nailing back-to-back floaters as Toronto tried to rally late. It was one of the few decisive moments in the half-court from Barnes who finished the night with 19 points, 12 rebounds, and six assists.
2. Six Seed Becoming Out of Reach
With the loss, Toronto moved three games back of Cleveland for the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference with 18 games to go in the season. It's not impossible for the Raptors to sneak into the playoffs with the sixth seed, but it's going to be tough, especially with a tougher remaining schedule than the Cavaliers.
The most likely scenario now involves a play-in date with the Brooklyn Nets either in New York or Toronto. If the Raptors win, they'll be the seventh seed in the East. If they lose, they'll play a do-or-die game against either the Atlanta Hawks or Charlotte Hornets for the eighth seed.
3. Trent Jr's Funk Continues
The offense is getting really tough to watch. At one point, Toronto went seven minutes to end the third quarter without a single bucket.
We've covered it a ton lately, but Gary Trent Jr.'s shooting funk is really bogging things down. It's one thing to have injured shooters, but Trent's inability to get things going since the All-Star break has left the Raptors without any reliable three-point shooters. He was 2-for-8 from behind the arc and at one point it got so bleak Toronto turned to the recently-signed Armoni Brooks to fill in and provide some floor spacing in the fourth quarter.
There's optimism VanVleet won't be too far away. The team is hoping to have him back on Wednesday, but every game he's forced to miss is proving costly. Look no further than a 6-for-24 three-point shooting night Sunday.
"We have three players that are really like the core of our team that are not there, obviously with Fred and OG. You know, the spacing is a little different," Boucher said. "Everybody gotta find their position and kind of their spots. We're still learning, obviously. But like I said, it's going to take a little bit of time."
Up Next: San Antonio Spurs
The Raptors will have two days off before they head south to San Antonio where they hope to have Fred VanVleet back in the lineup for a Wednesday night 8:30 p.m. ET tipoff against the Spurs.
