Raptors can only hope Barnes becomes a game-changer like Mavericks' Doncic

TORONTO — Luka Doncic is, in some ways, relatable.

He moves like mortals move. He runs like we run. The Dallas Mavericks superstar perpetually looks like an old dude who forgot to pop a couple of Advil before his weekend pick-up run and his feet, knees, hips and back won’t let him forget it.

Until he’s got the ball and it’s "go time" and he’s either bulling his six-foot-eight, 250-pound frame into the paint, sending bodies bouncing, drawing fouls and scoring with a feathery touch, or seeing passing windows no one else does and sending fastballs or change-ups — whatever the situation requires — to distant corners that no opponent could reasonably expect to have covered.

Defences have to give up something to at least present a challenge for No. 77, the problem is he sees everything. He shuffles around like he’s got slippers on until he needs an extra gear and summons it before anyone notices or can do anything about it.

It's weird honestly.

That he celebrated his 25th birthday in Toronto on Wednesday makes it all the more remarkable, even if he acknowledges that he’s young in spirit, less so in the flesh.

“I’m 25 but feel like 40,” Doncic joked after putting up 30 points, dishing 16 assists and grabbing 11 rebounds in what ended up being a 136-125 win for Dallas over the host Toronto Raptors.

Toronto had reason for optimism given Dallas was playing on the second night of a back-to-back, had lost two straight and the Raptors were rested and enjoying their first three-game winning streak of the season, but that was before Doncic began whipping no-look passes from all corners off the court and scoring buckets whenever he chose, all the while looking like he needed some time in the steam room to loosen up a bit.

Why does he feel so creaky?

“A lot of games, a lot of minutes. A lot of professional basketball,” said Doncic, who turned professional as a 14-year-old in Spain.

Doncic was coming off a 41-minute night and a boxscore line of 45 points, 14 assists and nine rebounds in a buzzer-beating loss to Cleveland the night before, but the Mavericks, who are in the thick of a Western Conference playoff race where a half-game separates fifth from eighth in the standings, couldn’t take the ready-made excuse.

Doncic wouldn’t let them.

He counted 11 points and six assists in the pivotal third quarter as Dallas turned a one-point halftime disadvantage into a 14-point lead to start the fourth. The Raptors never threatened to chew their way through it.

From the Raptors' perspective, sometimes you just have to tip your hat: sometimes the other teams have better guys. In addition to Doncic, Kyrie Irving was brilliant. When Doncic sat for the first six minutes of the fourth quarter, Irving scored 13 of his 29 points, keeping the Raptors at bay. When Doncic checked back in, he assisted on another Irving bucket, converted a three-point play and completed his triple-double with an offensive rebound and a putback.

And he did it all while looking like he’d have a hard time winning a foot race against a golf pro. Then again, the way he plays, there’s no need.

“It's at his pace. It's on his terms,” said Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic. “A lot of times, very athletic and quick players, they're trying to do too much. He's so good at reading the angles, reading the timing. He comes close to the paint. He's playing off of two feet. He's using all of those shot fakes, and 90 per cent of the time, he makes the right decision.”

As a result, Doncic arrived in Toronto averaging a league-leading 34 points along with 9.6 assists and 8.8 rebounds as the centrepiece of a Mavericks team that can never really be ruled out as a Western Conference contender because Doncic is good enough to win playoff series on his own.

“Somebody asked me before the game about Luka, what he can get better at,” said Rajakovic.

The answer?

“Nothing.”

It’s interesting to watch Doncic in the context of what the Raptors hope Scottie Barnes can be. After a history-making triple-double on Monday — the Raptors all-star became the first player in nearly 50 years to put up at least 21 points, 12 rebounds, 12 assists and five blocks in Toronto’s win over Indiana — Barnes was effective against Dallas but didn’t orchestrate the game the way Doncic did.

The Raptors forward finished with 19 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists, three steals — including a remarkable play in the first quarter when he ripped the ball from Doncic’s hands and went the other way for a dunk — and a blocked shot but missed all five of his three-point attempts and counted four turnovers. It was a solid night, but he didn’t control the game like Doncic did.

They’re different kinds of players — Barnes' open-court speed and bounce are upper tier, even by NBA standards — but for the Raptors to become a contender, Barnes will need to consistently dominate games the way Doncic has almost since he joined the league in 2018-19.

“What [Barnes can] be? I keep those conversations between me and Scottie because we have those kinds of conversations regularly. I'm constantly challenging him for more. I have a very high opinion and very high hopes for him. At the same time, what really makes me happy is that he sees things the same way I do,” said Rajakovic. “He's 22 years old. He's not perfect. He has a lot of things to improve and get better on.

"But the best thing about Scottie is he's hungry to put the work in and to listen. He wants to be coached, and he's improving day by day. Right now, Scottie is a young player who is trying to figure out his pick-and-roll game, his post-up game, how to connect with his teammates. He's very unselfish. He wants to play the right way. And that sets the tone for everybody else.

"And when he goes out there and he plays with a lot of energy, a lot of force on the defensive end, that gets our whole team going. That sets the tone for the whole team.”

But it was Doncic who set the tone for the entire game.

He had eight assists at halftime, and most of them were what would be defined as critical to the process of scoring, as in, he wasn’t tossing the ball ahead to an open guy for a fastbreak lay-up.

Instead, they were plays likely only he could make, and if he didn’t make them, the Mavericks weren’t getting a bucket. Sometimes he was whipping the ball through a forest of arms from behind the basket to a wide-open shooter, others he was flipping a 45-foot pass from his waist to a cutting teammate for an alley-oop, or — most absurdly — dribbling hard to right, taking contact from Raptors forward Kelly Olynyk while being double-teamed and whipping a no-look laser from behind his head to Tim Hardaway Jr. for a wide-open corner three, one of four Hardaway Jr. hit while coming off the bench in a high-scoring first half that the Raptors led 67-66.

The crazy thing? The Mavericks bench barely moved. Bored by brilliance maybe.

“I don’t know, they see me [work on] some of these things in practice,” said Doncic. “So maybe they’re used to it.”

The Raptors got a good taste of it, but the Mavericks have seen it all.

“When it comes [to] all that crazy [stuff}, he’s amazing,” said Mavs veteran Markieff Morris, who’s in his 13th season. “I’ve played with a lot of great players, but when it comes to scoring the basketball, it comes as easy to him as anyone. And I played with Kevin Durant.”

And Doncic’s passing might be his best skill. It’s quite a package, more so because the guy putting it all together looks like he’d need some time in a recliner. Just don’t tell him that to his face.

“Thing about him, you don’t want to talk [crap] to him, because he’ll get you on that court and wear you out, even in practice,” said Morris.

It's unlikely that Doncic will win the NBA’s MVP award this season — it’s considered a three-person race between two-time winners Nikola Jokic of Denver and Giannis Antetokounmpo of Milwaukee with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander making a strong case to become a first-time winner as the Oklahoma City Thunder gun for the top seed in the West.

But Doncic is a good bet to be in the top five of a crowded field when the final votes are counted. If so, it will be the fifth straight year he’s finished eighth or better, and he’s likely going to make first-team all-NBA for the fifth time, which is even more impressive given Doncic is in his sixth season.

He showed why against Toronto on Wednesday night.

“Just a normal game [for him]” said Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd. “Triple-double. He was really good. I guess 25 means he’s still going to be really good as he gets older here.”

If 25 is the new 40, Dallas is in good shape.