The game was three minutes old before Jalen Suggs even attempted a shot.
As might be expected, he missed. No story there: the Orlando Magic guard the Toronto Raptors decided not to take with the fourth pick in the NBA draft — and who the Magic took fifth — arrived in Toronto on Friday shooting just 28.6 per cent from the floor, the worst in the NBA among qualified shooters.
By that time, Scottie Barnes — taken by the Raptors ahead of Suggs to the surprise of some — had three baskets on three attempts, including a three-pointer which he celebrated as if he’d hit the go-ahead hoop in an elimination game.
Even for Barnes — whose offence has been a revelation so far in his NBA career — his hot start was a statement. Sure, the 17 points a game he started the evening with was second among rookies league-wide and his 54.7 per cent shooting ranked first, but Barnes has generally let offence find him. With Suggs and the Magic in town, he was hunting buckets, and when he got them, he was letting the world know.
No judgment. If a 20-year-old can’t enjoy this feeling a little bit, they why do we even watch?
Class of ’21. #WeTheNorth pic.twitter.com/quxN8VvexG
— Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) October 30, 2021
It was hard to look away. In the first game between the guy the Raptors drafted and the guy they could have drafted, Barnes not only won the comparison with Suggs, he sparked Toronto to a 110-109 win with another complete performance that exceeds what could have reasonably been expected at this stage.
Barnes finished with a career-best 21 points and nine rebounds on 9-of-14 shooting as Toronto improved to 3-3 and the Magic fell to 2-4. He did most of his damage early when the Raptors were having a hard time finding the rim and then came in late to contribute a timely basket and his typical handsy defence and smothering shot contests to help preserve Toronto’s lead down the stretch.
“I would say it felt pretty good, we got the “dub” at home, felt pretty good,” said Barnes .
And his scoring?
“I was just taking what the defence was really giving me,” he said. “They were really sagging so I was just taking the open shot.”
Toronto needed all that Barnes could offer. It wasn’t until the fourth quarter with the Raptors trailing that veterans Fred VanVleet and OG Anunoby joined the fight. They were a combined 4-of-20 through three quarters but were the gas in the Raptors’ engine in the fourth. It was VanVleet’s triple with 2:04 left that put the Toronto up 12 and effectively iced the game.
VanVleet finished with 19 points while counting 16 points and four assists in the fourth quarter while Anunoby had 10 of his 16 points in the final period. Gary Trent Jr. added 19 points on 7-of-13 shooting
Suggs had a solid game for Orlando – his 21 points were a career-high and he added four assists. He had five points as the Magic went on a late 11-0 run that sent a nervous charge through Scotiabank Arena. A deflection by Trent Jr. as the Magic’s Cole Anthony tried to maneuver for a game-winner in the final seconds sealed it.
It’s certainly not hard to imagine Suggs becoming a very good NBA player, or something more. It’s early days, but the rookie class of 2021 looks like it could be special.
But on this night Barnes was the better rookie, and the next best might have been Toronto native Dalano Banton, who was first in off the bench for Raptors head coach Nick Nurse and was part of the closing lineup too, once again supplanting veteran Goran Dragic, who didn’t play for the second straight game. Banton finished with 10 points, five rebounds and two assists in 23 minutes with big doses of active, long-armed ball-hawking defence.
But the night belonged to Barnes.
“It felt pretty good, knowing what we’ve been through and with each other for a long time and each playing with each other,” said Barnes. “… of course, it’s a competition every time we [are]going to play against each other. It was fun.”
There has been plenty made — with good reason — about Barnes’ status as the Raptors resident hugger and his overall warmth and good humour. Him and Suggs rivals?
Nah. Not off the floor anyway. The former Team USA teammates sought each other out on the court after the final horn for hugs and photos. It was all love.
“Scottie’s the best. He’s a genuine brother to me … to see him succeeding at the highest level, I’m nothing but proud of him,” Suggs told reporters on Friday morning.
But Barnes’ little celebration after his hot start? His airplane wings to the baseline camera after going coast-to-coast in three dribbles for a dunk early in the second quarter? Some more wings after pulling up for an early-clock jumper a moment later?
That’s just as telling as Barnes’ good-guy demeanor.
Don’t be fooled. He didn’t want to play well with Suggs in town. He wanted to eviscerate him and shut down any thoughts about who should have been taken where in the draft as vehemently as possible.
Barnes followed up his quick start by putting the pedal down further. He finished the first quarter with nine points on seven shots, to go with five rebounds as the Raptors led 23-20 after 12 minutes — and then he got hot. Barnes connected on all four shots in the second quarter to head into halftime with 19 points on 8-of-11 shooting.
It was signature Barnes — if we can assign a concept like that two weeks into his first season. He forced nothing, he drifted into gaps and made himself available to for simple passes and then he squared to the basket and put his shot up, comfortable and unhurried — and this is a guy whose knock coming out of college was his shooting.
Well, his ball doesn’t hit the rim much on its way into the mesh, put it that way.
“That’s kind of what he’s [been]doing,” said Nurse. “… I love it. I think when that while he’s producing you might as well keep going to it and I think it’s good. Yeah, I’m not that surprised. He’s a good player.
Suggs wasn’t too shabby. He hit a pair of quick threes early and then another after halftime. He was engaged defensively, though did struggle with fouls. Overall, he didn’t try to force anything, but he was also borderline invisible for long stretches until he got rolling again at the end of the game.
Part of that was because Barnes covered him on occasion, and on those occasions, Suggs did not get a shot off, let alone make one.
Meanwhile, Barnes was carrying the Raptors against one of the few teams in the NBA younger and less experienced than they are.
Early on, the Raptors struggled to match the size and athleticism of the Magic’s pair of young bigs — Mo Bamba and Wendell Carter Jr.
Combined, they had 25 points on 11-of-18 shooting in the first half, to go along with 15 rebounds.
Take away Barnes’ efficient scoring and Toronto was shooting just 35 per cent from the floor and 2-of-15 from deep in the first half.
But Barnes kept coming, pushing until his veteran teammates could get themselves on track. Through six games of his Raptors career we could pretend we’re surprised — except we’re getting used to it.
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At one point late in the game a “Scottie’s better” chant went up when Suggs was at the foul line. It wasn’t in the best taste, or did it make much sense – Barnes was taken ahead of Suggs, he’s supposed to be better.
But it’s proof that in a very short period Barnes has earned his way into the hearts of fans in a new city and a new country. It doesn’t feel like it will be changing anytime soon.
“They’re going to do what they want to do,” said Barnes of the chants. “They love me here so that’s all they’re doing; they’re showing they love me.”
For good reason.
