Toronto’s two big, burly forwards are the future.
Scottie Barnes and Collin Murray-Boyles were awe-inspiring on Thursday night. In a game that saw 13 ties and entered the fourth quarter close to a dead heat, it was Barnes and Murray-Boyles who swelled, crested, rose above, and crashed down atop the heads of the Cavaliers.
Barnes, maligned for only showing up in the fourth quarter, for not stepping up when it matters most, scored 13 of his tied game-high 33 points in the third. Lulling Jarrett Allen to sleep and darting past, going straight at and overtop draft-class rival Evan Mobley, hitting an array of acrobatic jumpers, including a looping leaner from the corner to break the tie heading into the final frame.
Murray-Boyles, with zero rebounds in the first half as Toronto was bullied to a minus-seven deficit on the offensive glass and minus-15 overall, grabbed eight boards, including a battle with four Cavaliers under the basket for what felt like a game-shifting tip-back.
And while Toronto’s twin boulders (?) were the headline, we’d be remiss not mention the lion-hearted efforts of the hometown hero RJ Barrett and the trusty gunslinger Jameison Battle. A combined 30 fourth-quarter points and seven-of-seven from 3 for the pair.
Battle played over half of his 15 minutes and change in the fourth, first coming off a twirl action, slipping to the block when nothing materialized, and dropping a floater. The shooting specialist then stepped back out to the line and delivered the death blow to the Cavs for the second time this season. A perfect four-of-four from long range. The undrafted sniper came off a screen-the-screener action, caught and fired off an offensive rebound, in transition, and off a ghost screen. The same result every time. Nets snapping. Cavaliers aghast. Battle’s now 10-of-10 from 3 against the Cavs this season.
And Barrett, who told media before the game that he “feels like a kid” getting to play a playoff game where he grew up, he left it all out there on the floor. It wasn’t just the 33-5-5-2 line, or the six-of-eight 3-point shooting, it was the way it felt as he barrelled into Cavs on drives. As he had the defensive performance of his life walling off Donovan Mitchell (15 points on 16 shots) and forcing tough jumpers from James Harden (18 points on 13 shots) over the top. As he cut baseline in the fourth, pumped, and went up for a fading hook over Harden and Mobley. It didn’t feel like the shot was going in when it left his hand. But it did.
There was an element of sheer will at play in the Raptors’ thriller turned smackdown of the Cavaliers at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday. They kept on driving and driving, hammering away until the levees broke late and washed Cleveland away in a 126-104 Toronto win, its first in the playoffs in fours years.
The Raptors did come out looking shaky. It was also their first home playoff game in four years, and it looked like it. A few forced turnovers and a couple bad bricks. They had six first-quarter giveaways with Monday’s Game 2 catastrophe still close in the rearview.
Barrett was on Mobley while Barnes played deny on Harden. The fifth-place vote-getter for Defensive Player of the Year flew in for an vehement stuff on Mobley after living inside Harden’s jersey for most of the possession. An all-world defender type play.
And while all-world shot-makers Harden and Mitchell kept raining pull-up triples early, adding to the Raptors’ ever growing deficit in that department – the Cavs entered play with 13 to the Raptors’ zero – Barnes did his best to counterpunch. He splashed one from up top, caught in the corner and cashed a drive-and-kick from Jamal Shead. Barnes went to work in close, too, hitting a fader over the outstretched seven-foot-six wingspan of Jarrett Allen. The Raptors ran twirl to set up an empty side post up and Barnes canned the turnaround.
Maybe Barrett was feeling like Billy The Kid as he fired three triples in under two minutes, including back-to-back makes from the top of the floor as momentum palpably swelled. The Raptors’ chaotic help tied up Harden in the paint going the other way and Shead sprung for the jump ball over The Beard.
Toronto’s big problem in the first half was that the possession battle was in jeopardy. The Raptors were making avoidable turnovers and getting eaten alive on the offensive glass. A dearth of pull-up shooting is one thing, but paired with a lost possession battle it’s a death knell in the playoffs.
Barnes had three fouls midway through the second quarter, bad news since his exceptional shot making and bucket serving was propelling Toronto’s offence forward. Murray-Boyles picked up the slack, taking the ball hard at ex-DPOY Mobley twice for tough finishes. The 20-year-old rookie (!) ducked into the paint and struck like a viper off a pass from Barnes. Later Sandro Mamukelashvili caught on the perimeter and made a perfectly timed pump-and-go – he tends to make the right decision whether to shoot or drive against a closeout – before gift-wrapping a dunk for CMB.
Jaylen Tyson’s brother, Jordyn, was drafted by the New Orleans Saints Thursday night, and Jaylen was obviously pumped as he made a tough floater and drilled a 3. Max Strus rained hellfire, as he’s liable to do on occasion. But the usual suspects, Harden and Mitchell were less efficient than usual. Their pull-up 3s started catching iron. The Raptors switching and blitzing worked to throw them off kilter and take the ball out of their hands.
The final play of the first half was Barnes slinging it to Murray-Boyles in stride for a momentous fast-break hammer, knotting the score at 54.
I haven’t mentioned Ingram to this point, and frankly there wasn’t much nice to say. He was at best invisible and at worst abhorrent in the first half. A rare bright spot came to open the second half when he found a stampede-cutting Barrett out of a double for a made runner. But otherwise it was rough. Nine points on eight shots through three quarters. It looked like he got monstar-d.
But this game had so many outstanding moments that another Ingram no-show was swiftly swept into the background. Among them, Murray-Boyles vaulting to pin an attempt from Allen on the backboard. Though the season’s been full of spectacular feats by the rookie, this felt like his coming out party.
Then there was the instant this game felt over, when noted non-pull-up threat Barrett took a couple dribbles around a Murray-Boyles’ ball screen, settled into his jumper, and drained the Raptors’ first pull-up 3 of the playoffs. Then he got audacious and ripped a step-back for their second.
This game meant something. Barrett does the walk-off interview at home in front of his family and friends. He hugs Toronto sports legend Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who’s fresh off a momentous playoff run. Barnes and Murray-Boyles were fully actualized. The Raptors feel dangerous. Battered and bloodied, they stood back up and made sure their presence was felt.
Compelling Raptors basketball lies on the horizon. After this performance, it’s truly time to take this team seriously.
