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There’s the temptation to provide Scottie Barnes some respiratory room after getting back from a sprained ankle that some thought would sideline him for far more time.
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There’s additionally the fact of the Raptors’ state of affairs, which wasn’t superb to start with and bought worse following Jakob Poeltl’s groin setback and RJ Barrett’s sudden sickness.
The necessity for Barnes to step up and totally embrace the function of franchise participant was felt Thursday night time when the Brooklyn Nets got here to city.
The comfort of a light-weight schedule means Barnes missed simply two video games from the time he landed on Karl-Anthony Cities’ foot throughout a house loss to the New York Knicks.
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Nobody anticipated Barnes to be at his greatest towards the Nets, however extra ought to have been squeezed out of him and but so little was produced.
Every thing fell aside within the fourth quarter.
Barnes, it needs to be famous, was not the one offender. Given his standing on the membership and the immense obligations he has to shoulder, Barnes have to be singled out for not being good.
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Actually, the fourth quarter could have been one in every of his worst stretches, maybe of his whole younger profession. Not a single rebound can be recorded, not a single journey to the foul line and never a single shot taken from the sector on two makes an attempt. The three fouls and two turnovers dedicated had been extra damning.
It might be troublesome to recollect a time when Barnes performed so poorly, so passively and so out of rhythm.
Maybe his interval of inactivity may very well be cited as an extenuating circumstance. Maybe the workforce’s traditionally younger beginning group performed a job. Maybe the workforce’s poor composition was inevitably uncovered.
No matter excuse one needs to listing, Barnes was wholesome sufficient to talk and he did not ship on his guarantees.
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The Raptors get two days to organize for a a lot sterner take a look at Sunday when the Houston Rockets and former Raptors guard Fred VanVleet come to city.
On Monday, the Raptors will likely be within the Massive Apple figuring out that just one highway victory has been received this season. After shedding six video games in a row, the streak of futility is prone to intensify.
What’s wanted is for Barnes to shake off the rust that crept in from his recreation towards Brooklyn and bounce again towards the Rockets.
With 2:46 left Thursday night time, a basket by Barnes gave the Raptors a 90-88 lead. Cam Johnson then took off for Brooklyn, scoring 11 successive factors earlier than the Nets took full management with 23 seconds left to guide 99-90 en path to their 101-94 victory.
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Why the Raptors did not do something to take the ball out of Johnson’s palms is one other story.
The dominant story targeted on Toronto’s younger beginning lineup, the youngest the franchise has ever fielded, on an evening the place the membership did its greatest to honor its previous.
Going into the night time, the story was about Barnes and his return. The day after yet one more defeat, the subject of dialogue issues Barnes.
He must be aggressive, extra assertive and dominant, particularly figuring out how undermanned the Raptors had been towards a Nets workforce that is not precisely the New Jersey-based Nets when Jason Kidd led the franchise to back-to-back appearances within the NBA Finals over 20 years in the past.
As of Thursday night time, the Raptors had been minus-19 on rebounds and minus-17 on the bench.
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Within the third quarter, the Raptors went 7 of 11 from past the three-point line scoring 30 factors within the interval.
Within the fourth quarter, they shot 1 of 10 from distance to attain 18 factors in 12 minutes.
With a 7-21 file, the Raptors are the proud homeowners of the fourth-worst file within the NBA. Within the East, solely the woeful Washington Wizards have a worse successful proportion.
If the aim is to carry out a whole tank job, then the membership is doing its followers an incredible disservice.
They deserve higher and Thursday night time would be the low level of a season that, by all requirements and circumstances, has supplied entertaining moments of basketball within the absence of wins.
There are not any shot creators able to getting baskets on the horizon, no knockdown three-point shooters about to emerge, no defenders able to stopping an opponent, no motive to be optimistic because the calendar is approaching. to maneuver in the direction of 2025.
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The Raptors have Barnes. He was again within the lineup Thursday and it felt like he hadn’t arrived.
Once more, it is easy to provide him a break, however that is the NBA and nothing is ever given when every little thing have to be earned.
Toronto outshot Brooklyn by 18 factors from past the three-point line and but shot simply 39.5 % from the sector.
The workforce’s prime scorer was Ochai Agbaji, who was arguably Toronto’s greatest participant. He performed in 16 double-digit scoring video games final season. Together with Thursday’s outing, Agbaji produced 17 double-digit scoring video games.
He is averaging a career-high 11.8 factors whereas capturing 52.8% from the sector, together with 44.7% from distance – each profession bests.
Kelly Olynyk recorded 5 assists within the loss, whereas Jamal Shead was unable to keep up the fourth-quarter excellence he displayed in Monday’s loss to the visiting Chicago Bulls.
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Not one of the above is in Barnes’ class.
Lack of ending is nothing new for the Raptors, nevertheless it reached a brand new degree within the last two minutes on Thursday, highlighting the workforce’s poor decision-making and shot choice.
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One of many low factors was an offensive foul towards Barnes.
Maybe the warning signal surfaced earlier than the opening faucet when the bookmakers made the Raptors the favorites for the primary time this season.
In all probability, the Raptors would be the subsequent favorites on New 12 months’s Day, when the Nets come again to city.
By then, the Raptors may very well be within the throes of a double-digit shedding streak.
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