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Raptors Season Proved a Success as Scottie Barnes Wins Rookie Honors and Toronto Staves Off Elimination

The Toronto Raptors earned another day of playoff experience as Pascal Siakam bounces back vs. the Philadelphia 76ers and Scottie Barnes earns rookie honors

Aaron Rose

John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports

It's always been about Scottie Barnes.

The Toronto Raptors weren't supposed to be in the playoffs, a fifth seed taking on the fourth-seeded Philadelphia 76ers. Sure, a deep playoff run and a championship are always the goals, but this season has always been about growth and development. It's why the organization wasn't fazed by the early season struggles when Pascal Siakam was injured and the defense looked out of sorts. It's been about the long game, developing their fourth overall pick, and getting as many learning opportunities as possible for this young group.

If Saturday was any indication, this season has already been a success. Not only did Toronto stave off elimination with a 110-102 victory over the 76ers at Scotiabank Arena, but the Raptors stepped up with their backs against the wall, bought another game's worth of valuable experience, and, most importantly, saw their rookie phenom take home the NBA's Rookie of the Year award all in one afternoon.

"It was a goal of mine all year to try to win it," Barnes said. "I didn't really try to overthink it or try to do so much. I just played my role, did what I gad to do, and winning helps with it as well."

Barnes Returns as Raptors Rookie of the Year

"Scottie! Scottie! Scottie!"

The cheering began the moment the Raptors rookie took the floor ahead of Game 4. There was a buzz in the arena as news began circling that he'd won the Rookie of the Year award, edging Cleveland's Evan Mobley by the slightest margin ever recorded. The cheering crescendoed as he walked out to center court, raising his hand to acknowledge the soldout crowd before Raptors president Masai Ujiri honored him with the award.

Truthfully, Barnes had already received the news. He and the Raptors found out at practice Friday when Vince Carter delivered the news to the team via a video message.

"That's a big award, that's one of the biggies," said Raptors coach Nick Nurse. "We were getting ready to watch film before in practice and the Vince Carter message came up and we didn't get to hear it when he kind of said there's only three people that have ever won this award me, Damon, and you, the guys were all over him and we didn't hear the rest of the message and, so, that was pretty cool."

Barnes didn't get the start Saturday afternoon as Nurse opted to go with Khem Birch against Joel Embiid, but his impact was certainly felt off the bench. He immediately snuffed out a deep possession from Embiid after switching off of James Harden. He ran the point for Toronto at times alongside Fred VanVleet before the Raptors guard was forced to leave in the second quarter with a hip injury. 

Even when his shot wasn't falling, Barnes still found a way to make an impact with aggressive defense, finishing the night with six points, 11 rebounds, and two assists.

"He’s just a special player. He has a unique mindset. He has a unique mindset that he brings to his game every day," Thad Young said. "The biggest thing — we can say he’s unique, we can say he’s special — but (it’s) his work ethic. He comes in and works every single day. He puts in the time to get better. And he wants to get better."

Siakam Responds to Critics with Career Night

There's no hiding from the disaster that was Game 3 for Siakam who didn't register a single point in the second half Wednesday night, but what's clear is he's learning from his mistakes. He was unhappy with his lack of aggression in his last outing and was clearly on a mission to fix that Saturday afternoon.

"He’s always been a resilient player. He’s always gonna fight through adversity. He knows his game. He knows who he is as a player. He knows how to bounce back and come back from having not-so-good games. That’s exactly what he did," Young said. "He just came out and did what Pascal does, play basketball and not care about what people are saying or the last game. It’s about this game. It’s about moving forward, and that’s what he did.”

Siakam got to work early, getting to the bucket against the 76ers' defense or settling for the kind of deep mid-range shots Philly was happy to let him take. A 4-for-5 shooting first quarter with 10 points let him find his groove early. Then, in the fourth quarter, he took over for Toronto, scoring six straight points to open the quarter and sticking the Raptors to a seven-point lead early in the quarter from which they never looked back. His 15-point fourth quarter blew the game open for the Raptors as the 76ers struggled for any way to slow down the potential All-NBA forward.

"He did a great job of seeing what he had and attacking it and I thought he just wasn't fearful of whoever was on him tonight to try to take it in there and make a play," Nurse said.

When it was all said and done, Siakam almost single-handedly kept the Raptors alive for another game with a playoff career-high 34 points, topping his 32-point outing in Game 1 of the 2019 NBA Finals.

VanVleet Exits with Injured Hip

VanVleet seemed a little off in the second quarter, passing up an open three-point attempt to find Gary Trent Jr. for a trio. It was an unusual decision from the 28-year-old guard who subsequently took an intentional foul and exited the game with left hip pain.

He stuck around until the end of the game near the locker room and will have further MRI testing done to reveal the extent of the damage.

Raptors Frustrate Embiid

Toronto finally found a groove against Embiid who had just eight points in the first half and was clearly frustrated by the Raptors' defense. At one point, he seemed to get into it with Siakam, taking a technical foul for nearly tackling him after Toronto had called a timeout in the fourth quarter.

"I don’t like that... just keep it to basketball, just go out there and compete, play hard at the highest level, just no dirty plays," Siakam said. "At the end of the day, it’s all fake toughness."

After the game, Embiid walked off the court clapping in the officials' faces as if to blame them for his lackluster 21-point outing that included five turnovers.

"Well, I'm gonna take my own advice and not complain about fouls," he said following the game. "They did a great job. I admire the job that they did today. To me, it felt like they (had) one job coming in here tonight and they got it done. So, congrats to them."

Highlight of the Night

In quite possibly the most surprising play of the season, Young somehow crossed up Embiid, sending the 76ers' defensive star to the ground, before nailing a step-back mid-range jumper in the first quarter.

That was just the start of things for Young who turned in his best showing of the playoffs, finding cutters with dimes to the rim, and tallying 13 points, his playoff high this year.

"He’s the ultimate pro, right? See him every day, he comes in, gets his work done, after, recovery, he’s just a professional with all that," Siakam said. "Having someone like him on our team is definitely a plus and I just like the fact that, I don’t think he’s been playing that much in the series – obviously had that thing on his finger – but just having the opportunity to come in and just be ready it shows how professional he is and he’s been in the league for a long time and he knows what it takes. I think that he was huge for us tonight."

Up Next: Game 5 in Philadelphia

The Raptors will have the day off before the series flips back to Philadelphia for Game 5 on Monday night at 8 p.m. ET.

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Aaron Rose
AARON ROSE

Aaron Rose is a Toronto-based reporter covering the Toronto Raptors since 2020.

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