Scottie Barnes blends into Toronto’s tapestry to drive win in return

Scottie Barnes is too eager to start.

He is in his first game in three weeks, out with an orbital fracture. The rust doesn’t show in his game, not too much, but it shows in his demeanor. Late in the game he picks up a reaching foul he doesn’t agree with, and he has so much vibrating, radiating energy that he hops and skips to his own rim, taking a few practice layups without a ball in his hands as he shakes his head in wonder. He just has to play. Even during stoppage. He’s trying to make up lost time.

He tries to be serious as the team is introduced to start the game, circling his glasses with his fingers — the kind my dentist makes me wear — and nodding, flexing, trying to look daunting. But he can’t hold it for long. The smile creeps across his face slowly before overtaking his cheeks, his eyes, his whole head. He can’t resist. It’s good to be back. 

And yet, despite the clear vibrancy from his return to the court — and what a beautiful purple court it is! — he doesn’t let it affect his game. Well, not much. In fact, his most important contribution on the court is trying to fit in. The Toronto Raptors haven’t been winning in his absence, with one of the worst records in the league, but they haven’t been playing poorly, either. The offence especially has been fun and creative. Barnes clearly wants to blend in, to be part of it. Still, there are some moments when the eagerness peaks through. Early in the first quarter, he tries to throw the ball to RJ Barrett curling around a screen but misreads the defence overplaying the action and throws it straight to Jaden McDaniels. Barnes tries to make up for the mistake and block McDaniels in transition, but he ends up on the wrong side of a poster.

The next possession, however, sees Barnes truly make up for it. He catches the ball with McDaniels in his face and casually drills a 3-pointer over an outstretched octopus arm. Then he celebrates. A lot. With finger guns, two shots aimed at McDaniels. He earns a technical foul for his exuberance. But it’s fun to be back regardless. 

Mostly though he’s along for the ride. That doesn’t mean he’s a bystander. No, he’ll still terrific and beneficial. He helps the team in calm ways, almost passively. He’s huge in the gaps on defence, just standing with his arms outstretched at the nail, forcing the Minnesota Timberwolves to play around him. He passes the ball early on offence, not trying to do too much, but drawing McDaniels out of the play and letting his teammates play four on four. The Raptors shoot 53.8 percent in the first half, their fifth-highest total of the year. They are 3-1 in the four games with higher first-half field goal percentages and 0-11 in the other contests.

Barnes takes five quiet shots in the half. He’s letting his teammates dash around screens as he picks them out like a quarterback. He makes three — two triples! — but plays within himself. 

There are more passive benefits. With Barnes starting at point guard, Davion Mitchell is bumped to the bench. He stabilizes Toronto’s bench groups, playing against Minnesota’s bench units alongside other former Raptors starters like Gradey Dick and Jakob Poeltl. Toronto runs up the score in those moments. Sure, Barnes isn’t on the court actually doing anything to help. But he’s helping regardless. 

Mostly, Barnes is trying to run run run the ball. He knows Toronto has played well by pushing, by injecting pace like Chev Chelios in Crank. He runs in transition. Minnesota makes a free throw and Barnes is screaming at Jonathan Mogbo, clapping furiously, ‘give me the ball, go go go, let’s push.’

At one point it all combines into one glorious image of stardom. Barnes ostensibly guards McDaniels, who stands high above the break, so Barnes plants himself at the nail, unfurling his arms like the sails of the HMS Victory. Anthony Edwards runs a pick and roll with Rudy Gobert, and Barnes plants a tag on Gobert like a linebacker, stopping him in his tracks and derailing that action. Then noticing the late clock, Barnes doubles Edwards, helping to force an airballed jumper to beat the buzzer. But after the miss, Barnes doesn’t demand the ball. He sees Barrett is closer, also trying to get running, so he gestures furiously to get the ball to Barrett and turns and runs. He’s not trying to commandeer anything, just help catalyze what was already working well. 

Perhaps the most significant indicator of his aggression is his pull-up shooting. He has often been defended by switching, and it has generally been opponents’ best approach, statistically. Against the Timberwolves, he was committed to launching pull-up triples when Minnesota switched his pick and rolls. He canned one in the first half and missed his next, but the make or miss is almost secondary to simply launching as a means of capitalizing on the defensive weakness. With a few minutes remaining, he misses another pull-up triple, but Poeltl grabs the rebound with the big switched onto Barnes.

In the second half, Barnes runs more actions. He spins into pick and rolls to get something of a running start and create better passing angles to Poeltl. Those micro-skills of setting up his defenders to run them into the screen help perhaps as much as shooting — both are ways of getting downhill, when he is at his most dangerous.

Still, he’s quiet. Barrett runs more sets and finishes with more points, more shots. Midway through the fourth Barrett takes over with a layup, a layup, free throws, then a Kobe assist (missed layup after drawing the big defender to his shot, opening up the offensive rebound to Poeltl). Barnes spends some possessions standing in the corner while his teammates run the offence. At one point in the fourth quarter, Barnes relaxes while Chris Boucher and Mogbo take turns trying to batter through the defence. But Barnes doesn’t pout, not in the least. He is the first back on defence, calling out matchups, quarterbacking that end. Toronto forces a turnover on that defensive possession, and Barnes draws free throws in transition.

There are areas that could be better, certainly. He needs more touches, more actions, more shots. His drives don’t go very deep, and he only touches the paint once in the first half by my count. He does it not with the dribble but as an off-ball mover, curling around a screen before catching a pass. (He misses a floater with that paint touch.) He passes too early before creating advantages. He throws a turnover trying for a post entry. At one point he runs square into Dick as Barnes tries to drive in a Spain pick and roll and Dick tries to dash out to the perimeter. Rust might show in timing more than anything else. 

All of that will come as he settles in. For now, it’s good to be back. The team makes much, much more sense with Barnes in the lineup. The defence is spectacular with Barnes on the court. And though the Timberwolves are not the juggernaut this season that they were last time around, they were 8-6 coming into the game with an above-average offence and defence. Yet the Raptors punch with them for the entire contest, never losing contact despite fouling to hell and back in the first quarter and Edwards going a little bit ballistic in the third quarter.

Late in the fourth, after Barnes comes in to close the game, he draws a foul on Gobert as he cuts through the lane without the ball. He draws free throws (Minnesota is in the penalty), and Boucher charges to him with vigor, with haste, with passion, to pick him up. Between his free throws, the entire foursome on the court converges to slap his hands, to encourage him. Barnes makes both. He hits a turnaround jumper a moment later to put Toronto ahead four. The crowd is hopping. The team is happy. The Raptors win, of course. They topple the Timberwolves behind ferocious defence and a fluid offence, and Scotiabank is as boisterous and vivacious as I’ve seen it all year. (Not including Vince Carter night.)

For Barnes and his Raptors, it’s good to be back.

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