Why Scottie Barnes' 3-Point Shooting Will be the X-Factor for Toronto's Offense

The Toronto Raptors are going to need Scottie Barnes to keep the Philadelphia 76ers honest with his three-point shooting to advance in the playoffs

Aaron Rose | Apr 12, 2022

Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Success in the NBA playoffs is about finding a weakness and pressing on it as hard as you possibly can.

By now, the Toronto Raptors and Philadelphia 76ers know every trick in the book. As 76ers coach Doc Rivers joked prior to the team's last meeting in Toronto, he's confident he could run the Raptors' entire offensive playbook if he wanted to. Sure, there will certainly be minor adjustments throughout the series, but more often than not, these series come down to exploiting your opponent's weakness.

Take the last time the Raptors were in the playoffs, for example. It was the Boston Celtics who found a way to exploit Toronto's biggest problem. The slithery Kemba Walker repeatedly went right at Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka, pulling Toronto's bigs out to the perimeter, isolate them in pick-and-roll coverage, and then blow past them for a pull-up jumper or a bucket at the rim. It got so bad that the Raptors had no choice but to adjust, taking their big man off the court and going with a versatile small-ball lineup with the 6-foot-3 Norman Powell stepping in to replace the bigs.

This time around, Toronto's biggest offensive issue is going to be three-point shooting, specifically Scottie Barnes'. It was the glaring hole in his game coming out of Florida State where he shot just 27.5% from behind the arc and averaged less than one three-pointer per game. Today, he's come a long way. He's shown a willingness to take threes this season, averaging 2.6 attempts per game and connecting at a 30.1% clip. But in a starting lineup that features Fred VanVleet, OG Anunoby, Gary Trent Jr., and the always-deadly Pascal Siakam, Barnes is clearly a step below offensively.

Earlier in the month, the Miami Heat used Barnes' lackluster shooting as the blueprint for their defensive scheme against Toronto. They let him hang out on the perimeter undefended at times, using his man to clog the paint and wall off Siakam's driving lanes. It forced Barnes to shoot over and over again, finishing the night 3-for-9 from behind the arc with 19 points and just two assists.

"I think he's gonna have those opportunities coming at him here," said Raptors coach Nick Nurse that night referring to the upcoming postseason. "So the more the merrier here this last week. Get used to it."

The Raptors' offense is pretty simple these days. They don't run very many elaborate schemes where the ball whizzed around the court forcing teams into rotation. Instead, they try to find mismatches, draw a second defender, and find open scorers. Against the 76ers, the help is more likely than not going to come from Barnes' defender, leaving the 20-year-old rookie open behind the arc.

"He’s gotta keep ‘em honest enough so that they pay for that," Nurse said. "You’ve gotta take what the defense gives you. I always say if you put two to the ball you’ve gotta get off it or if they put two on you and you’ve created that situation, you’re making the right read by getting it to the open man.

"Yeah, he’s probably gotta make some."

His ability to do that could make or break Toronto's chances of advancing out of the first round.

Further Reading