10 things: Barnes' career night spoiled by Westbrook's miracle shot

One -- The Raptors got punked at the buzzer for one of the most painful losses of the season. Neither team had control of the game, but expectations were always on the Raptors extending their win streak over a struggling Lakers team in their bid to climb out of the play-in spots, but a bout of bad fortune coupled with some throwback performances by a pair of future Hall-of-Famers left the team stunned. The Raptors' loss, coupled with Cleveland's overtime win, leaves the Raptors squarely in the seventh seed yet again.

Two -- The last play of regulation was a disaster. The Raptors had just secured a vital stop on the previous play, with Precious Achiuwa forcing an errant three from LeBron James, then Russell Westbrook hitting the edge of the backboard on his follow up. Having secured the rebound, Nick Nurse drew up an inbounds pass and all the Raptors needed to do was to secure the pass, and hit one free throw to ice it.

But instead, the Lakers covered up all of the Raptors' options, and Scottie Barnes rushed to inbound to Precious Achiuwa who was heavily pressured and about to fall out of bounds. Achiuwa managed to save it back to Barnes, but the play was chaotic and Westbrook managed to sneak in for the steal, before taking it up the length of the floor, curling his toes back behind the line, before knocking down the three to force overtime. Keep in mind that Westbrook had just hit the backboard a few seconds prior, and that he was shooting 11 percent from three since the All-Star break.

Three -- This is a game the Raptors will regret. On the last play of regulation, Barnes will have regretted not throwing the pass to Pascal Siakam, who was in single coverage against a smaller Austin Reaves by halfcourt. Barnes will also regret being caught with his hands down on Westbrook, however unlikely it was that he made the shot.

Nick Nurse will also regret not calling a timeout when Achiuwa was trapped on the sideline with the ball, or the play he drew up in overtime with the Raptors down four points where he called for Fred VanVleet to slash to the rim for a not-so-quick two that ended up blocked. The Raptors' veteran leaders in Siakam and VanVleet will regret their inattentiveness on defence, which allowed the Lakers to be within striking distance to begin with. The bottom line is that this loss should not have happened, and that fault lays with the entire team.

Four -- Barnes was nothing short of dominant. He went toe-to-toe against quite possibly the greatest player of all-time, and played him to a draw. Barnes had the first 10 points of the game for the Raptors, knocking down a three, taking Dwight Howard off the dribble and bumping him out of the way for a layup, scoring a signature quick hook in the post, before topping it off with an and-one finish.

He emerged again in the third quarter, blitzing LeBron James for a steal before taking it the other way for a dunk, hitting a jumper late in the clock, bulldozing his defender for a driving layup, throwing two cross-court feeds to Gary Trent Jr. for three and to VanVleet to slash, and then going coast-to-coast for another layup. He finished with 31 points, 17 rebounds, and five assists in yet another jaw-dropping performance that even had James raving about the star rookie.

Five -- Barnes was given the ball and entrusted to close the game. Barnes was the primary handler in the final moments of regulation ahead of Siakam and VanVleet, who typically monopolize late-game chances. The Raptors even had VanVleet screening for Barnes in place of the play the Raptors would normally run for Siakam to get a switch, and Barnes capitalized with an emphatic dunk.

The next play down, he reversed the ball to Trent Jr. for three. Barnes was in such a zone that James started giving him the same treatment as the Raptors did to him, where he ditched his assignment to bring a hard double team to force Barnes to give up the ball, leaving VanVleet open in the corner which teams would ordinarily sell out to avoid. More importantly, Nurse also gave Barnes the responsibility to inbound on the last play. And while he made a crucial error, Barnes had fully earned his chance to finish what he started.

Six -- Trent Jr.'s late-game scoring was crucial. He nailed two threes, including the go-ahead triple in regulation, and drove it inside for a pair of layups. The Lakers had their best defenders elsewhere, given the threats that Barnes, VanVleet, and Siakam were presenting, which left the best matchup for Trent Jr. and he was able to make plays under pressure.

More impressive than the threes were the drives against Reaves and Avery Bradley, where he held patiently against the pressure from the two pesky defenders, waited for an ill-time swipe to make his move, before taking them to the rim. There will be moments this season where Trent Jr. is the fourth or fifth option in crunch time, and what a luxury that will be.

Seven -- Achiuwa had a strong game but it will be forgotten amid the madness. Achiuwa took on the hardest assignments checking James and Westbrook, and while they still scored during important moments, you could not have asked anyone to play it better than Achiuwa did.

On James' wild turnaround bank shot from 30-feet out, Achiuwa had him pinned to the point where that prayer was his only chance. And on the penultimate shot in regulation, it was Achiuwa who forced James into another rushed jumper that went wide left. Achiuwa also nailed a pair of late-clock jumpers, and hit three triples for 18 points off the bench in yet another encouraging offensive showing. The biggest key for him is that he isn't afraid of the moment.

Eight -- This was a weirdly passive night for Siakam, who only took 12 shots. Part of this was because Barnes was clearly the primary creator, but he just wasn't fully engaged on both ends of the floor. There were lapses on defence where he didn't box out or failed to rotate to cover the basket, and offensively, he was very quiet throughout. Siakam did score a pair of post-ups in the fourth against smaller defenders.

This begs the question of why he didn't see the ball more often in that spot, but nevertheless as a leader of the team it's also on him to demand those touches. Getting blocked in overtime by James and splitting a pair of key free throws did not help his cause, however, as criticisms over his late-game scoring remains a lingering topic.

Nine -- VanVleet was strangely ineffective on defence. Westbrook went at him repeatedly, and even though Westbrook is having a down year, the difference between his athleticism and VanVleet on a bad knee was overwhelming. Offensively, the story was similar to that of Siakam, where he just was wasn't as involved as he typically would be at the end. As it were, he was one-for-six in the fourth quarter an overtime, but that includes two rushed shots to beat the clock, and three fairly open jumpers that he rimmed out on.

Ten -- The Raptors still have this habit of making unforced errors. In overtime, the Raptors completely forgot to rotate on two drives to the rim from Reaves which resulted in four points. On the last play of regulation, nobody had the presence of mind to intentionally foul Westbrook to preserve the lead up three while the Lakers didn't have a timeout left.

Over the course of the game, Chris Boucher returned to his frustrating habit of leaving his feet on closeouts, with the most egregious one being that he left his feet to run Stanley Johnson off the line. There was also a stretch in the second quarter there VanVleet and Siakam both took turns driving into turnovers in a crowd in the middle of the floor. This is the biggest fear of playing in a one-game scenario, because you never know when these mistakes will crop up and spoil their effort.