Despite loss to Lakers, Raptors show they're ready for playoff journey ahead

It was all going down on Friday night as the Toronto Raptors went blow-for-blow with one of the best to ever do it.

The Los Angeles Lakers star threw one knockout punch after another, but the Raptors took them all and countered just as hard.

The man doing most of the damage for Toronto? How about 20-year-old Raptors rookie Scottie Barnes, whose potential has been compared to plenty of elite NBA players in his remarkable first season, but didn’t look out of place going head-to-head with James for the second time in a week.

In the end, it was James who proved he can still turn a game to his will when he chooses as he put up 35 points while grabbing nine rebounds and counting seven assists in leading the Lakers to the 128-123 overtime, snapping the Raptors five-game winning streak in the process.

He was a game-changing force in the fourth quarter and overtime, but he got help on this occasion, something that hasn’t always been the case in this trying Lakers season.

But Barnes stood tall. He finished with 31 points while grabbing 16 rebounds – both career highs – and contributed six assists. He picked James up full court at times and drove the ball at him at others.

Barnes's brilliance was no surprise to the Lakers star. Not only had the Raptors rookie led Toronto to a win in LA earlier this week, but turns out James has been tracking the Florida State product for years.

Game knows game.

“I saw Scottie Barnes for the first time in the 7th grade and I told a good friend of mine that this kid is going to be special,” said James. “I seen the length of his arms and he was playing point guard at his size back then. And obviously now he can play point guard, he can play multiple positions, but for him to have that size, and that ability, I knew he was going to be special, and I always talked to my friends about it and it’s no surprise for me, personally. It could be to some of you guys, but I’ve been watching him since 7th grade and it’s a beautiful thing to watch.” 

Barnes was a Kobe Bryant fan growing up, but he understands what James has meant for athletes like him, showing the potential of having a super-sized wing play every position from point guard to centre.

“LeBron's done so much for this game; of course a Hall of Famer,” said Barnes. “[He’s] someone that's just so influential on this game that just paves the way for so many people. Being big, athletic, like myself, being able to dribble the ball, doing multiple different things on the floor. Of course he was influential for a lot of young kids like me.”

It wasn’t a perfect night, not all endings are storybook. 

Barnes had a chance to tie the game in overtime but turned the ball over dribbling into traffic with 15 seconds on the clock. The Raptors were up one with 51 seconds to play after Pascal Siakam hit one of two free throws, but the Lakers took the lead for good when Avery Bradly hit a three with 32 seconds to play.

Barnes was part of another late-game breakdown when the Raptors turned the ball over on an inbounds play with 10 seconds left in regulation and leading by three. Barnes was the passer, but between the Lakers coverage and the Raptors failing to run someone open, his only option was Precious Achiuwa running to the near sideline. James was quick on the trap, and Russell Westbrook stepped inside Barnes when Achiuwa tried to pass out of it and made the steal. He took it cross court, made sure he didn’t toe to line and made his fourth three of the night – remarkable given the struggling former MVP came into the game shooting 11 per cent from three since the all-star break. The Raptors had a foul to give but didn’t – another lesson for a young team.

With the loss, the Raptors fell to 39-31 and a game behind Cleveland in the race for sixth place in the East. The Lakers (30-40) snapped an 11-game road losing streak and won against the Raptors for the first time since James joined the team four seasons ago and just the second time in 15tries dating back to 2014.

Getting to overtime was half the fun. A sky-scraping dunk by Barnes and a three-point play a moment later helped the Raptors come back from down four with 5:21 to play. Barnes then assisted on a triple by Gary Trent Jr. that gave the Raptors the lead.

But James wasn’t having it as he scored consecutive threes as part of a 16-point fourth quarter that showed why he’s far from done as a dominant NBA force. Barnes was game – he even forced James into a costly turnover that led to another three by Trent Jr., gaving the Raptors the lead with 26 seconds to play before Westbrook’s big triple.

On the bright side, it was another lesson for Barnes and a young Raptors team.

The Raptors hosted the Lakers just five days after trouncing them in Los Angeles as part of Toronto's 5-1 road trip. Amazingly the regular season is getting close to wrapping up – the calendar don’t lie: In three weeks’ time, the Raptors will be learning if they’re going to be getting ready for the play-in tournament or having a few days off before starting a first-round series as the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference, or maybe even the fifth.

It's been a whirlwind. The Raptors are in the midst of 16 games in 24 days with 11 starts on the road. Their return to Scotiabank Arena was brief – one game before heading back out on the road for dates with Philadelphia on Sunday and Chicago Monday.

“A good day to do laundry,” was how Raptors head coach Nick Nurse described the break in the road-heavy schedule.

Not bad to host James either. The Lakers star was making his first visit to Toronto since March 14, 2019.

It was a win for anyone in the building eager to catch a glimpse of the 37-year-old superstar who has lost no steps in his 19^th NBA season.

“What’s it like? I’m watching it just like you to be honest with you,” said Raptors guard Fred VanVleet who finished with 20 points while playing nearly 47 minutes. “Obviously, one of the best to ever do it, we were on the wrong side of it tonight but I think we can learn from it.”

Before the game Nurse said he felt his team is rounding into form and was prepared for the different kinds of defences and in-game adjustments that come up in the post-season, but said their late-game execution still needs work. Watching James put up 19 points in the fourth quarter and overtime as he closes in on Karl Malone for second place on the NBA’s all-time scoring list is as good a test as any.

“It’s good for us to be in good games. I think that’s for sure,” said Nurse later. “I think our guys were doing a lot of good things out there and gave themselves a chance to win. We just didn’t make one little play in there to get the ball in bounds. We got it in, and got a tough pass complete, and then gave it up. We probably would have liked to foul (Westbrook). We had a foul to give. Up three, certainly would have. It’s just kind of hard to do in the moment.”

The game was tight from the start. Any hope that the Raptors would run the Lakers out of Scotiabank Arena the way they did at Crypto.com Arena five days before was put to rest early on. In that one, the Raptors broke out to a 21-2 lead and were up 33-12 after the first quarter which was all the cushion they needed even as Los Angeles won the final three quarters by 10 points. On that night Barnes was the Raptors spark plug – scoring 15 points on 7-of-8 shooting, including the Raptors' first six points.

You might think that's hard to top, but not for Barnes. He started his evening off with a triple in James’ face and went on to score the Raptors' first 10 points, all while picking the Lakers legend up full court, perhaps sending a message that the way James treated him in LA – Barnes was tossed to the floor and then had James throw a ball at him while he was lying there – wasn’t going to alter his approach.

The difference was the Raptors needed everything Barnes could offer. The Lakers, with an 11-game road losing streak on the go and having 13 of their last 14 to the Raptors, showed up to work on time, at least.

Even with Barnes’ early work the Lakers still led 15-10. Threes by VanVleet and Pascal Siakam tied the score in short order and another triple by VanVleet put Toronto up by five until a 13-5 Lakers run sparked by Wenyen Gabriel – a 6-foot-9, long-armed undrafted forward originally from Sudan who is somehow not a Raptor scored 14 first-quarter points on 6-of-6 shooting while making his second career start – putting the visitors up 33-30 after 12 minutes.

The Lakers weren’t done. Specifically, James decided to turn things up after a quiet first quarter. He scored or assisted on 15 of the Lakers' 26 second-quarter points as the Lakers pushed their lead to 11. But seven quick points by Precious Achiuwa in the final two minutes of the half trimmed the Lakers edge to a more encouraging four points and 59-55.

Fortunately, Barnes decided to treat the third quarter the same way as he did the first, in the process he showed the full range of his burgeoning arsenal. He stole the ball from Hall-of-Famer-to-be Dwight Howard and took it the other way for a dunk, looking back at future Hall-of-Famer James along the way. He knocked down a pretty step-back jumper from 20 feet. He drove the lane and scored a floater and then drove the lane and found Trent Jr. (23 points) for a wide-open three – all in the first three minutes of the quarter. By the end of the period the Raptors led 89-88 and Barnes led James in scoring, 24-21.

“He’s been doing a good job of being assertive and aggressive and making plays,” said Nurse. “… He did bring great energy. I thought he had a great game. He was on the glass tough. He played great.”

James got the last laugh and finally walked out of Scotiabank Arena on the right end of the score for the first time as a Laker,  but Barnes and the Raptors showed that with the playoffs looming, they’re ready for more.

Three-point Grange:

• OG Anunoby will likely remain out for at least another week as the Raptors forward waits for a fracture in the ring finger on his shooting hard to heal further. He’ll be re-evaluated on a week-to-week basis, Nurse said. He’s been out since the All-Star break.

• Malachi Flynn is also likely out another week or perhaps longer as he recovers from what is now being described as a hamstring tear after further evaluation. “He feels great. He doesn’t feel much pain, but we have to wait until that gets a little better too …I think he’s on the road to a pretty quick return for sure. We already know it’s about done. 

• Achiuwa has played some of the best basketball of his career since the all-star break, but Nurse opted to stay with Khem Birch as his starting centre against the Lakers. “I think Khem is just more of a straight five than Precious,” said Nurse. “So, if there’s a straight five out there that probably lends itself more to Khem. If they are a little smaller or their fives are a little more mobile or handle the ball, that lends itself more to Precious.