SAN FRANCISCO — The Toronto Raptors have had several Canadians pull on their jersey over the years. None have had moments like RJ Barrett had on Sunday night in just his fourth game as a Raptor.
It’s the kind of moment that was fun to think about when the Raptors acquired the Canadian national team star and Mississauga native from the New York Knicks in the deal that also brought them Immanuel Quickley, giving the Raptors two young starters that should be fixtures in their lineup for years to come.
Imagine: hometown kid catches fire and leads the Raptors to a much-needed win against one of the NBA’s most storied franchises and their Hall-of-Fame heavy roster.
That’s almost exactly how things played out for the new-look Raptors in San Francisco as Barrett finished with 37 points – exceeded only by Raptors teammate Chris Boucher’s 38 points at the end of the 2020-21 season for the most by a Canadian in a Raptors uniform – and the Raptors smothered the Golden State Warriors 133-118 to improve to 2-1 on their road trip and 15-21 for the season.
“I’m just trying to help,” said Barrett. “That’s all I’m trying to do, just trying to help. Quick and I, I think we’re adjusting great, but it’s a work in progress.”
Barrett was the headliner – and justifiably, given he finished 13-of-20 from the floor, 5-of-7 from three and 6-of-8 from the free-throw line while adding six assists and six rebounds in about as complete a game as Barrett has had in his five NBA seasons.
“I thought RJ was great today. Obviously, he scored a lot, but I was really proud of his playing, with six assists, I felt he played unselfishly,” said Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic. “He was trying to make the right play every time down the court …. I thought he did a really good job rebounding, assists, scoring. He did it all today.”
But it stood up because Barrett didn’t have to work alone. All of his threes were wide-open and assisted which was a feature on the menu as the Raptors counted 38 assists and shot 58.5 per cent from the floor and 15-of-33 from deep.
“Being here with the system we have, you get a lot of wide-open looks,” said Barrett. “We’re playing in a flow, in a rhythm, getting good shots that I work on every day … you know the ball is coming, you just have to be ready to shoot it.”
Barrett led five Raptors in double figures and the starters were supported well by a bench unit that has been stabilized by Dennis Schroder sliding down the lineup after the arrival of Quickley. Schroder had 13 points and four assists while Chris Boucher (17 points on 7-of-7 shooting) and Gary Trent Jr. (14 points) joined him in double figures off the bench.
The Raptors did well defensively too, limiting Steph Curry to nine points on 2-of-14 shooting and the Warriors to just 14-of-46 from three as a team. Curry, the NBA’s all-time three-point leader, was 0-of-9 from deep.
It was a tough night for the other Canadian in the game’s starting lineup as Andrew Wiggins’ strange season of struggle continued as he finished with just three points on 1-of-6 shooting.
“We got punked from the jump,” said Curry. “It was a rough one.”
The Raptors’ first quarter was a work of basketball art, from the Raptors’ perspective. They should take screen shots and frame them or play the tape on a loop. Every decision the Raptors made was correct, every play an organic response to the opportunity that presented itself. And a lot of those opportunities came in transition, either from hustling defence that led to turnovers, such as Quickley’s driving steal on Wiggins leading to a transition lay-up for Barrett or from simply being alert and energized and getting the ball and bodies up the floor with pace. The Raptors scored on four straight possessions midway through the period simply by having their bigger wings get early and deep post position on Warriors guards. Pascal Siakam did it, Barrett did it and Scottie Barnes did it twice in a row to an over-matched Curry. The Raptors went up by 14 on a Siakam triple before the Warriors bench – even without Chris Paul, out indefinitely with a broken hand — was able to claw some back in the final moments of the quarter. Even so, Toronto led 36-28 and was every inch the better team.
So that was really fun. But then Barrett really got rolling.
He nailed a pair of early threes, took a defensive rebound and went coast-to-coast, scored on an alley-oop in transition from Siakam and then nailed two more triples to bring his total to four for the quarter and five for the half. Things were going so well for the Raptors that when Barnes somehow missed a wide-open dunk in transition, the ball found its way to Barrett on the arc and he scored a three rather than a two, with Barnes being credited for the assist. It wasn’t just hitting shots; a red-hot Barrett initiated a really nice sequence when he drove the lane, kicked out to Quickley who drove and found Barnes for a dunk. By the time Barrett and the Raptors headed down the tunnel for halftime, the Raptors led 76-49 and the Warriors looked thoroughly discombobulated.
It was all the Warriors need in what is turning into a miserable season so far. They were already just 2-3 on a season-high seven-game homestand and had dealt with trade rumours, an injury to Paul, the return to action – if not the lineup – of the mercurial Draymond Green after a 12-game suspension and having playing-time-related frustrations of third-year players Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody bubble into the public. Things were bad enough that Warriors head coach Steve Kerr benched Kuminga, Wiggins and Trayce Jackson-Davis to start the second half, leaving only Curry and Klay Thompson as holdovers.
“I didn’t want to go back to the same lineup,” said Kerr. “The only thing I was interested in the second half was competing.”
Barrett and the Raptors showed no mercy. Was Barrett putting on a show for his fellow Canadians on the Warriors, Wiggins and Cory Joseph? Who knows, but through his first week playing for his hometown team since being acquired from the New York Knicks, Barrett, at the very least, seems comfortable in the role. He was shooting well from three prior to Sunday since joining the Raptors but is now up to 10-of-19 from deep through four games.
“He’s a very smart player, a very coachable player, he’s figuring out how we’re playing, what is our style of play and his spots on the floor,” said Rajakovic.
The Warriors began to push back in the fourth quarter. Barrett finally cooled off – though he did add a couple of buckets to push his total to 30 through the first three quarters – and Warriors’ veteran Klay Thompson began heating up as he hit three triples in the third quarter. His third cut what had been a 27-point Raptors lead to 12 on the way to nine before a triple from Gary Trent Jr. set up by Barrett and a hustling putback by Boucher at the horn sent the Raptors into the fourth quarter leading by 14.
They kept their weight on the door. Boucher – who appeared for one minute with the Warriors when he played for them on a two-way contract in 2017-18 – hit a pair of threes early in the fourth quarter that pushed the Raptors lead back to 20 with 10:20 to play. A few minutes later, jumpers by Barrett and Dennis Schroder put Toronto up by 25, and the crowd at Chase Centre began heading for the exits.
The Raptors and Barrett gave them no reason to regret the decision.
