Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports
Precious Achiuwa & Scottie Barnes Show Future is Bright for Raptors in Victory Over Blazers
No matter what happens at next month's trade deadline, the future is bright for the Toronto Raptors.
It took all of six minutes in Saturday night's 123-105 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers to see why the Raptors are so high on Scottie Barnes and Precious Achiuwa. No, it hasn't always been pretty this year for the two young forwards, but development never works that way. Lately, though, they've been nothing shy of remarkable.
Achiuwa has figured it out. He's found a groove presenting himself in the dunker spot just beside the hoop, picking up offensive rebounds, and making himself available for dump-off passes. It's nothing crazy, but it's consistent and important.
When Barnes and Pascal Siakam drew help defenders in the paint, Achiuwa slithered behind the Portland defense for easy buckets. He converted a pair of And-1s in the second quarter, the first courtesy of a great find from Siakam and later via an offensive rebound after his own missed dunk.
Defensively, Achiuwa has never had trouble. He stayed with Jerami Grant through a pair of screens from Portland to contest a shot at the rim in the first quarter as Toronto jumped out to a 30-7 lead. Late in the second quarter, he snuffed out an Anfernee Simons drive with a block. It was a do-it-all first half from Achiuwa who recorded his first career first-half double-double and finished Saturday with a career-high 27 points and 13 rebounds.
By his side, Barnes has continued to flourish, controlling the offense and staying poised no matter his role. At one point in the first, he signaled for Siakam to cut to the rim, shifting the Trail Blazers' defense, before whizzing a pass to Gary Trent Jr. for a driving layup.
His playmaking is exceptional. When Portland double-teamed him early, he found Achiuwa behind the defense for an easy dunk. Later he recorded a hockey assist, taking it hard to the rim before throwing the kick-out pass to Fred VanVleet who found Trent for a corner three.
If Portland didn't send help, Barnes took it himself. He backed down Anfernee Simons for a post-up bucket, nailed a fallaway jumper with Gary Payton II draped all over him, and threw down a massive slam over Nassir Little in the first half. In the fourth, he capped off his 18-point, 10-rebound, seven-assist performance by euro-stepping through the paint before dropping a reverse one-handed slam.
The Trail Blazers didn't make it easy. With Achiuwa on the bench in the third, Portland pounded the Raptors in the paint, nearly erasing Toronto's 19-point lead in the third with a 39-point quarter to pull within four.
That was until VanVleet checked back in and took over. He came alive in the fourth, bouncing back from a slow start, to score or assist on nine straight Raptors buckets, turning a four-point game into an 11-point Raptors lead. After a tough bucket in the paint, he spun around and yelled "that's what I do" as he walked back to the Raptors' bench.
Moments later Trent found Achiuwa in transition for an alley-oop slam and Toronto hung on long enough, moving to 2-1 on this critical West Coast road trip.
Up Next: Phoenix Suns
The Raptors will have the day off before heading to Phoenix for a 9 p.m. ET tipoff against the Suns.
