TORONTO — The perfect scenario was a convincing Raptors win with some stardust sprinkled around the Scotiabank Arena floor by Cooper Flagg, the 19-year-old Dallas Mavericks star who has already proven himself to be one of the best teenagers in NBA history.
One of two isn’t bad, and the Raptors took care of the most important part: getting a much-needed win over Flagg and the tanking Mavericks as Toronto’s hold on a playoff spot gets more tenuous with just 19 games left in the regular season.
The Raptors led early and built on their lead steadily as the evening unfolded. Once they went up by 20 on a smooth turnaround jumper by Scottie Barnes late in the third quarter, they were sharp enough to keep the drama at bay throughout the fourth period of what ended up being an easy 122-92 win. It was the tanking Mavericks’ seventh straight loss.
But given the Raptors’ struggles against top teams this season, taking care of the ‘minnows’ on the schedule is vital.
A big factor in the Raptors’ performance was RJ Barrett playing like the best Duke University product in a game where four of them saw action, Flagg included. Barrett uncorked a season-high 31 points on 13-of-19 shooting (3-of-6 from three), giving the strongest signal yet that he has found his game after struggling since missing 23 out of 29 games in a two-month stretch that ended in late January.
As for Flagg? He both looked the part of the NBA’s best teenager since LeBron James joined the NBA in 2003, and at times, a rookie struggling with the attention the Raptors were giving him defensively. He finished with 17 points and eight rebounds but shot 7-of-17 and had four turnovers in his 30 minutes. His frustration boiled over at one point, and he got his first NBA technical foul for arguing a no-call on a second-half drive to the rim. “I don’t think I got one last year (in college) either,” he said.
But like the Raptors’ Scottie Barnes, Flagg still managed to touch nearly every element of the game as he added eight rebounds, six assists, two steals and three blocked shots.
After Western Conference stars the likes of Nikola Jokic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Luka Doncic missed their stops in Toronto due to injury, Flagg’s contributions were welcome even for Raptors fans as his spike block on Immanuel Quickley and his climbing the ladder to block seven-foot Jakob Poeltl’s lay-up provided memory-worthy highlights.
But even Flagg had to acknowledge it was Barrett’s night. “I’ve known him for a while, we’ve taken very similar paths (first to Montverde Academy in Florida for High School, then at Duke for a year of college), but he played incredible tonight,” said Flagg. “He was really efficient on both sides of the ball for them.”
It has taken a while for Barrett to feel comfortable since his injuries, but the signs are there.
Over his past six games, Barrett is averaging 21.7 points and six rebounds while shooting 56.7 per cent from the floor and 46.7 per cent from three, a marked improvement from 14.4 points per game on 46.6/27.5 splits that he was averaging in his first 10 games back.
Against the Mavericks, he was moving crisply — he had a dunk and a lay-up on cuts in the first half — driving through contact and looking as smooth and connected on his three-point looks. All of those things are easier when your fitness is back where it needs to be and your knee is calmed down, which wasn’t entirely the case until recently.
“That’s why a couple of weeks ago it didn’t look great,” said Barrett, who became the eighth Canadian to surpass 8,000 career points just before halftime. “Just got to continue to work through it.”
He has done that, and the Raptors are beneficiaries. Barrett has always tended to run a little hot-and-cold with his shooting, but if he is at the early stages of a heater — which he can stay on for weeks at a time — it bodes well for the Raptors’ stretch run.
With 19 games left, Toronto remains in fifth place in the Eastern Conference, but they are only one game up on Miami (winners of five straight, including over conference-leading Detroit Sunday) and Orlando, which has won four in a row.
The Raptors head on the road to play Houston and New Orleans this week and have suddenly seen their margin shrink to near nothing. Having Barrett back in full sail couldn’t happen at a better time.
“I think we know what he’s capable of, we’ve seen it the last two-and-a-half years,” said Scottie Barnes, who finished with 17 points, four rebounds, five assists, one block and one steal on 6-of-12 shooting. “He’s able to score the ball and help us out in that area and in different ways. Once he gets his stuff going, he’s pretty hard to guard, especially going downhill (to the rim), for himself and kicking the ball out.”
As an added bonus, Barrett’s offence and defence are often linked.
After Barrett hit his second consecutive three-pointer early in the fourth quarter to put the Raptors up by 26, Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic greeted him on the floor as Barrett was making his way to the bench for the ensuing timeout so he could demonstrate proper body-positioning on a pick-and-roll coverage.
The message: Barrett’s offence is important, but his attention to detail defensively is critical.
“Definitely, his offence is helping the team,” Rajakovic said. “But to be honest with you, what he’s doing really well lately is he’s playing really good defence. And that’s always the thing that then starts with him and starts with us, and that he has to do a good job there. When he does that, I really believe that when he plays with a lot of attention and effort on the defensive, I really think that helps his offence as well.”
No argument from Barrett, who stole the spotlight from Flagg, and helped the Raptors get one win closer to where they want to be in a month’s time when the playoffs start.
“I’ve been getting better, trying to get my body back right, been able to move better and just try to be as consistent as I can,” Barrett said. “And (Rajakovic is) right, when I’m locked in, I’m playing defence, and I’m guarding and active, it just helps you get into the game.”
1. Nembhard with the steal: Mavericks rookie Ryan Nembhard had to wait until just over five minutes left in the fourth quarter to make his NBA debut in his hometown. The Aurora native didn’t waste any time getting his name in the box score as he came from behind to cleanly strip an unwitting Barrett and go the other way for a lay-up. Barrett wasn’t happy about the steal, but he was happy for Nembhard, who was his late brother Nathan’s roommate in high school. Barrett and Andrew Nembhard grew up playing together since middle school. And Ryan? “He was just always there,” said Barrett. The younger Nembhard went undrafted out of Gonzaga but landed with the Mavericks and has done nothing but impress. “It’s been a long year together, and I’ve seen his growth from Day 1,” said Flagg of his fellow rookie. “He’s earned his contract, and I’m super happy for him.”
2. Good to be home: “It’s just basketball,” said Nembhard when I caught up to him before the game. But it’s not just another game, not when you have to dig in your pocket to get 20 or so tickets for friends coming out to see you play an NBA game against the team you all grew up watching. “It was cool, for sure,” said Nembhard after counting a pair of assists in his five-plus minutes to go along with his steal and lay-up. “You grew up watching these games, and I came to some games when I was younger. It’s always nice to come back to the city and play here.”
3. No Murray-Boyles on trip: The Raptors have ruled out Collin Murray-Boyles for their two-game road trip through Houston and New Orleans this week as they hope to allow his injured left thumb to heal up. Trayce Jackson-Davis will be out at least against Houston on Tuesday after he dislocated his left middle finger on a dunk in the lay-up line, of all things. He had it reset and splinted but missed the game against Dallas, too, after he scored 32 points in a conditioning stint with Raptors 905 on Friday. “I hit my finger on the rim perfectly (to dislocate it),” he said. “And I looked down (at his suddenly crooked finger) and almost started laughing.”
Bonus: Markelle Fultz made his G-League debut with Raptors 905 on Sunday afternoon and had four points, five assists and no turnovers in 19 minutes in the 905 win. I’m told that the No. 1 pick in the 2017 draft was offered the opportunity with 905 as an audition of sorts for the Raptors 15th roster spot, which they will likely be looking to fill on March 15. No promises have been made, but it was only three years ago that the 27-year-old was an effective starting point guard with the Orlando Magic, averaging 14 points and six assists on 50 per cent shooting.
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