Here are 10 takeaways from the Toronto Raptors‘ 121-93 win over the Brooklyn Nets.
1. The Raptors easily defeated the Nets in their first game after the All-Star break. Brooklyn looked lifeless and disorganized for much of the game and the Raptors capitalized by scoring 46 points in transition in the blowout victory. Toronto has finally collected its first win in the Atlantic Division, as they had lost their previous 12 matchups, including a dispiriting loss in Brooklyn in December.
2. Scottie Barnes has been all smiles since making his first All-Star game. Barnes set the tone early on with a block on Ben Simmons on the very first play and rushed ahead of the pack the other way for a layup of his own. Barnes settled in from there, playing within the flow of the offence and using his size to bully smaller Nets defenders down low. Darko Rajakovic has returned Barnes to the same substitution pattern as the start of the year, where Barnes is the first starter to sit to begin the first and third quarters, which then allows him to return to run point for the second unit. This strategy does give Barnes a chance to initiate more of the offence, but it can also cut off his momentum if he is always given an early hook. It will be up to Rajakovic to find the right moments to break this pattern and allow Barnes to stay in rhythm.
3. Immanuel Quickley struck the right balance with his aggressiveness on offence en route to 24 points on 8-for-16 shooting. Quickley spoke at practice on Wednesday about the awkwardness between balancing taking over versus setting the table, and that has manifested in an uneven scoring output. Quickley has scored five or fewer field goals in 10 of his 21 games with the Raptors, although his assists have doubled since joining the team from New York. Getting everyone involved is undeniably a big part of being a starting point guard, but Quickley is clearly at his very best when he is looking to attack as he did in this performance hunting pull-up threes from as far out as the logo, and also taking it strong to the paint for an and-one finish. His impact would be a lot more consistent if he prioritized attacking over assisting.
4. The challenge for RJ Barrett is to expand his game. The 23-year-old excels at getting downhill to his left hand and he shows great determination to get to his favourite shot, but it is rather predictable. He can be one-dimensional and it limits how much he can create in the halfcourt because the defence knows exactly where he is headed. When he is given a head of steam in transition or when he drives off the catch, Barrett has shown to be rather dynamic and efficient but that alone cannot carry the offence. But in other key aspects — free throws, catch-and-shoot threes, and especially right-handed finishes — he remains inconsistent. Another swing skill for him is on defence. Barrett is at his best using his strength against bigger forwards, but he is often caught flat-footed. Mikal Bridges shook free easily for threes under Barrett’s watch.
5. Gary Trent Jr. is very much a feast-or-famine player, and tonight he happened to be in a great rhythm with his jumper. Trent Jr. was especially effective on pull-up jumpers both from the midrange and from three, which bailed the Raptors out of a half-dozen stuck possessions offensively. Ideally, Trent Jr. would develop a secondary skill — cutting, playmaking, rebounding, defending, literally anything else — so that he isn’t so reliant on his jumper, but that has been the case for the past four seasons now.
6. Kelly Olynyk was quietly excellent on both ends of the floor. The wily veteran popped up for timely steals and used ball fakes to set up the slowest of scoop layups, and he remains a safe pair of hands to organize the offence whenever the Raptors get bogged down in the halfcourt. But much of this was already known about the 11-year veteran. What has been surprising is his impact on defence. Olynyk absorbed a drive to swat Dennis Schroder on the drive and was surprisingly the best assignment against Victor Wembanyama last week. He remains fairly light on his feet for a 32-year-old and uses his size well to position for shot contests. The Raptors are indeed working on an extension with Olynyk, although there is plenty of time to hammer out a deal in the coming weeks. Something reasonable in the $10-to-$13 million range per year with some options under team control makes perfect sense.
7. Ochai Agbaji, the other player in the trade with Utah, has yet to really make an impact. Agbaji played active defence, cutting off a few Nets drives and forcing contested pull-up jumpers, but that alone won’t get him into the starting five. Offensively, he remains limited for a guard since most of his looks are being created for him. The ideal course of development is for Agbaji to establish himself as a strong catch-and-shoot option, with enough ball-handling and bounce to attack closeouts. Hopefully, those steps will come after becoming acclimated to his new team.
8. There was a polite applause and a quick jumbotron graphic shown in Dennis Schroder’s return. The 30-year-old’s tenure with the Raptors was short-lived, spanning just over four months before he was dumped in Brooklyn for Spencer Dinwiddie who was promptly waived. Schroder wasn’t the right fit because the team needed a prolific catch-and-shoot player, but it wasn’t exactly the ideal situation for him either. The FIBA World Cup MVP was promised a starting role on a competitive team in Toronto. Instead, he found himself demoted by a coach he trusted while management launched into a teardown. Neither side got what they wanted out of it, and it was largely a waste of time.
9. Brooklyn remained a confusing mess in Kevin Ollie’s NBA coaching debut. The dismissal of Jacque Vaughn isn’t surprising given the team’s total lack of energy, but Ollie’s promotion didn’t exactly inspire a renewed effort. The Nets are 8-24 since mid-December, which could be acceptable if they chose to tank, except their pick is unprotected and owed to Houston. The starting lineup features two complete non-shooters in Ben Simmons and Nic Claxton, an inconsistent 3-and-D player in Dorian Finney-Smith, and neither one of Mikal Bridges nor Cam Thomas are reliable playmakers. Meanwhile, they have three smaller guards coming off the bench who all primarily want to slash. They should at least be a strong defensive group on paper, but there doesn’t seem to be the collective drive or will to execute at a high level.
10. Simmons’ pre-game routine needs to be studied. The former number one selection has always been a poor shooter but his shot looks even more confusing up close. Simmons puts a heavy sideways spin on the ball that looks almost as if he’s throwing a changeup rather than shooting a jumper.
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