Barnes later referred to as it ‘an ass-whooping’ and he wasn’t improper.
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The primary Raptors recreation of the season didn’t go the best way the house staff deliberate. Issues went downhill not lengthy after Scottie Barnes delivered a rousing tackle to followers keen for his or her first style of actual NBA basketball in lots of months. Overwhelmed by Cleveland’s measurement, Donovan Mitchell’s silky ending and brief too many gamers, it was ugly.
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Barnes later referred to as it “an ass-whooping” and he wasn’t improper. Listed here are some takeaways:
MEN AMONGST BOYS
Cleveland is perhaps one of many largest groups within the NBA, beginning behemoths Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley up entrance, however the battle within the paint shouldn’t have been as comical because it was.
The Cavs doubled up Toronto within the paint with 30 factors (on 65% taking pictures, to Toronto’s 37.5%), as solely Jakob Poeltl supplied any resistance inside. And that was even with former all-star Darius Garland having an uncharacteristically poor night (Garland shot 3-for-12, together with 1-for-3 inside). Cleveland threw down 11 dunks (4 every by Allen and Mobley) to just one by the Raptors.
“That second quarter we actually struggled to complete across the rim,” Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic mentioned. “They did an excellent job of defending across the rim, blocking photographs, which allowed them clearly to get out and run.”
Your Noon Solar
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And on the different finish Toronto couldn’t gradual the waves of Cleveland attackers.
“We didn’t get rim safety. However I believe it was beginning on the ball. Tonight we had been getting hit on screens fairly a bit. We didn’t do an excellent job of avoiding screens and staying in entrance of the person,” Rajakovic mentioned. Guards beat Raptors and went downhill creating simple lob alternatives.
Rajakovic had talked so much within the pre-season about enhancing issues on the preliminary level of assault, however this was not an excellent begin.
“We’ve talked about it, that any good defence begins with on ball. Higher we do an excellent job of communication, guarding the ball, staying in entrance of the ball, that’s going to take a few of the issues on the rim. However we’ve obtained to proceed engaged on that, we’ve obtained to proceed addressing that. I believe video session goes to be a extremely good one tomorrow. Guys have quite a lot of feelings going into this recreation, however that’s all behind us, and we will actually concentrate on our development and improvement from right here,” he mentioned.
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LACK OF DEPTH QUITE PUNISHING
Toronto will not be a deep staff. One harm to a key participant might be withstood, however any greater than that and issues may get dicey. So with final yr’s main scorer RJ Barrett out, key reserves Kelly Olynyk and Bruce Brown sidelined as nicely, the very last thing Toronto wanted or might cope with was Immanuel Quickley being taken out of the combination too. But that’s what occurred after he had a tough fall. “He’s sore proper now. We wish to be very (cautious) with it. And clearly we’re going to do all of the testing tonight and tomorrow and see the place he’s at,” Rajakovic mentioned.
Davion Mitchell was simply OK in his Toronto debut, whereas Jamal Shead had an excellent first recreation, however Quickley is Toronto’s most essential participant behind Barnes (on offence a minimum of. Jakob Poeltl is essential defensively).
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Chris Boucher mentioned they’d keep optimistic, that accidents occur, but it surely’s fairly clear from the skin that there isn’t sufficient expertise on the roster to make up for a number of absences each evening.
BARNES MUST LEARN FROM THIS
Barnes was manner off. He had bother with Cleveland’s measurement, confirmed some frustration and wasn’t as decisive as traditional. “We missed some open threes. But in addition, you recognize, we obtained some switches. I simply obtained to be prepared to separate these switches extra, be extra aggressive on the ball,” Barnes mentioned.
“It’s one evening, it’s one recreation. All of us consider in Scottie we all know what sort of participant he’s and the way he can contribute staff. He will likely be simply nice,” Rajakovic mentioned.
ROOKIES SHOWED SOMETHING
As talked about, Shead supplied a wanted spark.
“Jamal, each time he touches the ground, like, he performs so exhausting and the best way he competes, he was in a position to get couple of deflections and steals. It permits us additionally to get out and run a bit bit,” Rajakovic mentioned.
Jonathan Mogbo, who didn’t look comfy with the pace of the sport for a lot of the pre-season appeared way more in his component. “I like what I noticed there, the vitality that he introduced and the size that he presents defensive finish particularly,” Rajakovic mentioned.
Ulrich Chomche and Jamison Battle additionally obtained invaluable studying minutes that may assist down the road.
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