Scottie Barnes Shows Star Potential as Raptors Fall in Grudge Match Against Knicks

The Toronto Raptors are seeing Scottie Barnes take a step forward but his big-time performance wasn't enough against the New York Knicks

If the New York Knicks were trying to gain some sort of competitive edge over the Toronto Raptors by distracting the organization with this unprecedented lawsuit directed at the Raptors, it hasn’t worked.

The Raptors as a team have been entirely unfazed by the suit. It’s done nothing to impact Darko Rajaković’s ability to coach in Toronto and, he said, he’s not worried whatsoever about what the Raptors have called a “baseless” suit.

“I know who I am, I know my integrity, I know who I represent, I represent one amazing organization and people in the front office and players,” Rajaković said Friday prior to Toronto’s 119-106 loss to New York in the teams first meeting of the season. “I’m really looking forward to all of this to be solved and for everybody to find out the truth.”

The fact of the matter is the Knicks and Raptors simply have entirely different goals for this year. New York is good and trying to get better. Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle are all-star level players and if they could get a third star, they’d be among the conference’s best teams.

The Raptors, conversely, are developing.

They brought in Rajaković not as some win-now coach but rather as someone who could usher in a new era led by Scottie Barnes. While his tenure may have started with this ridiculous cloud overhead and talk of this lawsuit, it’s clear Toronto has something to look forward to.

Just watch Barnes.

If Toronto was looking to make a statement, Barnes certainly did. He came out of the game carrying over the kind of performance he showed in the fourth quarter against Phoenix.

He got right in the paint to open the scoring with a driving hook shot, the kind of in-the-paint bucket Toronto has been looking for from the 6-foot-7 forward. He followed that with a three-pointer in the corner and then got to work in the mid-range.

Sure, the Raptors would prefer Barnes not take so many mid-range jumpers, but when they’re falling the way they did Friday it’s hard to complain. He started the game 7-for-7 from the field with four mid-range jumpers and led the Raptors with 29 points on the night.

For all the talk about Barnes and Pascal Siakam not fitting together, the two certainly made it work against the Knicks. Toronto’s All-Star forward helped the Raptors climb out of a double-digit first-half hole by getting into the paint and doing what he does best. He nailed a flurry of turnaround jumpers from his go-to spot just outside the restricted area, leading Toronto with 15 of his 21 points heading into the half.

If there’s been one area to really critique Rajaković this season it’s been in his rotations. Toronto’s lineups seem to be constantly in flux and every time the Raptors have gone with OG Anunoby and the bench, it hasn’t been pretty.

That was no different in the third quarter against New York. In the span of nearly 90 seconds, the Knicks beat up on the Anunoby-led lineup, climbing ahead by as many as 13 heading into the fourth. It was just the latest example after a near disaster against the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday night that the Anunoby-led bench group just isn’t good enough to be a reliable lineup these days.

The problem is New York is just a step or two ahead of Toronto. The Raptors kept it close early but eventually, the Knicks began to heat up from behind the arc and Toronto couldn’t keep up. New York outshot Toronto 16 to 6 from three-point range, a 30-point margin that's tough to overcome.

"It's get back in the gym, work, and make sure that you're continuing to move the ball and when there’s open shots and open opportunities come we’ve got to be able to make those shots," Rajaković said. "You cannot play the game without shooting from the three-point line. So we’ve got to just continue putting work in and believe that you're gonna make them."

Donte DiVincenzo, Randle, Immanuel Quickley connected on a trio of fourth-quarter threes and New York’s lead ballooned to 15.

"Obviously it's tough," Jakob Poeltl said of trying to overcome the three-point shooting margin. "It's got to come down to hustle plays like offensive rebounds. I feel like it feels like we did a pretty good job with that."

Now let’s be real, if the Raptors were trying to actively steal information from another organization it probably wouldn’t be the Knicks. New York has taken a step forward lately. After years as the laughingstock of the NBA, the Knicks are competitive. But if you’re an organization looking to steal state secrets from another organization, the Knicks probably aren’t the first place you’d go looking.

Up Next: Miami Heat

The Raptors will have a break for a few days before welcoming Kyle Lowry and the Miami Heat to town on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. ET.