Takeaways From Raptors Heartbreaking Loss to Nuggets

Denver Nuggets 127, Toronto Raptors 125 (OT)

Scottie Barnes is only a mismatch killer.

The Raptors hold discovering methods to place Barnes in mismatches and towards a Nuggets workforce as shallow as this one appears to be, Denver had no solutions. He repeatedly backed down smaller defenders, attending to his post-up shimmy for turnaround floaters, scoring 16 of his factors 21 factors Monday night time within the paint.

It was a Barnes kick-out cross out of a pick-and-roll with Jakob Poeltl to Gradey Dick that caught Toronto to a nine-point lead halfway by the fourth. He adopted it up moments later with a full-court alley-oop he threw with pin-point accuracy to Ochai Agbaji after which capped off his stellar fourth-quarter run with a LeBron James-esque transition block on Christian Braun.

A Barnes three-pointer over Braun with two minutes to go gave Toronto the 10-point lead, however Denver would not go away. The Nuggets managed to erase all of it within the last minutes, making the most of a layup from Jamal Murray to power time beyond regulation.

“He’s an enormous tall man who can deal with the ball, who’s for searching for mismatches, who can put the ball downhill, who’s discovering open teammates, who can post-up, he can play within the mid-range, he can ISO,” Nikola Jokic mentioned of Barnes. “He’s a extremely good participant.”

When Denver despatched assist at Barnes, the All-Star ahead confirmed off his playmaking prowess. He threw a mind-boggling no-look bounce cross to Ochai Agbaji reducing in from the nook for a formidable slam within the third quarter that put the Raptors up 11 after Denver had trimmed Toronto’s result in simply 5 minutes earlier. It was the second of two no-look passes Barnes threw after connecting with Mogbo on a no-look feed in transition within the second.

Barnes recorded a career-high 5 steals Monday together with a fourth-quarter steal off Aaron Gordon, taking the ball the opposite means in transition earlier than being fouled by Russell Westbrook in what was deemed to have been a flagrant. The second sparked a short skirmish that resulted in a double technical as Barnes and Gordon needed to be separated after some pushing and shoving.

“Scottie defended himself as he ought to,” RJ Barrett mentioned. “I used to be proper there with my one good shoulder. However yeah, we do not again down from anyone. So it is good to see that.”

A stellar night time from Barnes was solely marred by an harm he sustained within the last minute when Jokic inadvertently hit Barnes in the suitable eye with an elbow attempting to seize a defensive rebound. Barnes stayed down throughout the ensuing possession and needed to be taken to the locker room.

RJ Barrett hasn’t missed a beat.

The Canadian ahead returned from an AC joint harm to make his season debut Monday night time and seemed each bit nearly as good as he did late final season in Toronto. He got here out of the gate in assault mode, scoring 9 of Toronto’s first 13 factors and forcing Denver to burn a timeout simply 4 minutes into the sport.

Barrett nonetheless isn’t fairly at one hundred pc. Each time he checked out, he went to the bench and was instantly greeted with a shoulder brace and he continues to work his means again. However on the courtroom, there have been no indicators of any situation for the 6-foot-7 ahead.

When he’s driving downhill, he’s robust to cease. He received Toronto’s offense going early and caught the Raptors to a 13-point lead within the third quarter after corralling an offensive rebound and nailing a turnaround three-pointer.

Down two, Barrett had an opportunity to win the sport for Toronto in time beyond regulation, racing up the courtroom within the last seconds earlier than taking a lightly-contested three-pointer that will have given the Raptors the lead. The shot would not fall and Denver snared the rebound to flee with victory.

“I am snug taking that shot. I am pleased with the shot it took. That is simply who I’m,” mentioned Barrett who completed the night time with 20 factors in almost 29 minutes. “That is who I’ve all the time been. I will take the shot once more. That is simply, I do not know. That is simply who RJ Barrett is.”

This 2024 draft class is to this point shaping as much as be a fairly good one.

It’s a small pattern measurement, after all, however Jamal Shead and Jonathan Mogbo are wanting like NBA contributors and possibly much more than that. That’s earlier than Toronto even will get a have a look at first-round choose Ja’Kobe Walter who’s heading to the G League to proceed his rehabbing course of forward of his NBA debut.

Shead is simply relentless on either side of the ball. He’s robust combating by screens and has no drawback getting up within the face of opposing level guards and pressuring the ball in full courtroom. He and Mogbo efficiently killed 13 seconds off the shot clock by simply being energetic defensively, selecting up within the full courtroom and leaping into passing lanes.

“One factor that I do like about our rookies in our workforce, they are not afraid,” Raptors coach Darko Rajaković mentioned. “They don’t seem to be afraid of the second. They don’t seem to be afraid to step on the courtroom and play laborious. And if you play laborious and when you’ve got your coronary heart in the suitable place to play for a workforce, good issues occur.”

That’s how Shead and Mogbo have performed to this point.

Shead drew an offensive foul within the first half taking a nasty shoulder from Aaron Gordon and repeatedly placing his head down, attending to the ring for eight factors Monday.

“That is his finest weapon that he has. He will be disruptive defensively, he’s going to do a superb job guarding all of the elite gamers on this league,” Rajaković mentioned. “There are not any straightforward nights and off nights, and he is studying what it takes to do this each single night time. I used to be very, more than happy with the hassle that he was giving on the market.” 

Mogbo has clearly jumped forward of Bruno Fernando within the rotation pecking order and was turned to as Toronto’s backup heart, even towards Jokic in a pinch. His reducing has confirmed to be beneficial in restricted minutes to this point and his versatility is a trait the Raptors are going to lean into much more down the street.

The Raptors will hit the street and head to Charlotte for a one-game street journey towards the Hornets on Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET.