Raptors showdown vs Knicks & Scottie Barnes’ improved driving

From Samson’s piece:

“Before this stretch, the Raptors were the 2nd most efficient pull up team in the NBA and didn’t rely on them often (bottom 10 in volume). Since then, they’ve jumped into the top half of the league in volume, and fallen to the bottom 8 in efficiency. They’ve gone from the middle of the pack as a driving team, to the bottom 3. They’re a team that is middle of the pack in terms of catch and shoot performance, but one of the worst in the league when it comes to spot up efficiency. Why? Because there’s so little driving prowess on the roster, even with the benefit of attacking closeouts. Somehow, they still don’t take a lot of threes as a team.

“I think this is the longest stretch BI has played in awhile. I think his legs have gone here and there a little bit. He’s finding himself every now and then to be a little tired. I think we have to pick him up in that instance.” Jamal Shead told me, of the Raptors big drop off in offensive efficiency. He also pointed out how Barrett’s injury has affected their process. “Getting used to playing without somebody who averages 20 and who is a real focal point in our offense. Trying to have other people step up. I think we can do it, we just haven’t figured it out yet.”

Coach Darko also highlighted the missing Barrett, but wanted to emphasize the team he currently has: “We all know who RJ is and what he brings to the table for us. He’s a very important offensive player for us offensively. But, I don’t want to look in those terms. He’s not here, and we gotta figure it out. We have a more than capable team. We have a lot of talent. We have a lot of young guys that need to step up and improve in this stretch.”

In this stretch, Ingram has nearly as many shots as points. He’s averaging more turnovers than assists. He hasn’t been able to find efficiency anywhere. Not from the free throw line (60%) and not from downtown (35%). He’s always going to take shots and provide some level of scoring, but it’s the complete sapping of flow that his possessions have started to resemble that’s troubling. The Raptors have seen their time to first action — basically, how long does it take you to start running offense — increase slowly over this time, and it goes up along with Ingram’s usage. The longer it takes you to start offense, the fewer chances you get to break the defense down and fewer players touch the ball. You cease to function as a team.”

Enjoy the episode.