Raptors Film Room: Scottie Barnes’s historic night

Here is Samson Folk recapping the game:

Barnes & co. countered with some scoring, some run outs, but it always seemed like there was an offensive rebound, a big triple from the Warriors, something to keep the Raptors at a distance. With 4 minutes left the Raptors were stuck 5, at 113-108. Barrett had left the game after 24 minutes — he had a minutes restriction — and the Raptors were trying to steal the win with a lineup of Quickley-Shead-Walter-Ingram-Barnes. They would need impact from everybody.

The Raptors sent attention Curry’s way from the outset of every possession. Deny defense across 94-feet. They asked others on the Warriors to initiate, and asked Shead to track and irritate the future hall-of-famer. Largely, the approach worked. Sure, Curry shook loose a couple times, but the Raptors forced a chunk of turnovers by blitzing the other Warriors. Ingram hit some contested middy’s, Quickley started landing the plane on his triples, and Barnes continued to amass an insanely big box score total. The Raptors brought the game even with a minute to play after an ‘IQ;’ triple. Unfortunately, on the other side, Quickley allowed Podziemski to slither past him for a putback the next time down.

One foul turn deserves another though, as Barnes’ putback on a missed Ingram triple tied the game up on the other side, and Shead’s pestering defense held up to the last play of the Warriors’ in regulation, as his face got in the middle of a Curry rip through, drawing an offensive foul with 2.4 seconds to play. It came to nothing though, as the Raptors went conservative for their last look, pitching to Ingram and asking him to hit a contested triple over the arms of Green – it didn’t go.

Free basketball. And you’d think the basketball were free, the way Barnes was grabbing that thing. A steal, a caught lob for a bucket, and 5 rebounds in the first minute and a half of overtime to help power the Raptors to a 7-point lead.

Barnes was incredible. He supported the guards’ pressure as the roamer. He assaulted the offensive glass repeatedly. High pointing the ball, pursuing air space only he could access. He even stepped out on Curry on occasion defensively. Unreal physical dominance. The type of performance you tell your kids about.

The Raptors star left the game with a 14-point lead, 48 seconds on the clock, and an insane stat line of 23 points, 25 rebounds, 10 assists, 3 steals and 1 block. The first Raptor to ever put up a 20 & 20 triple-double.

He promptly laid out on the Raptors bench. He gave everything to that one. A huge win for the Raptors.