Basketball

RAPTORS BLOG: Brilliance of Anunoby and Barnes wasted by all-time bad bench performance against Lakers

By Kevinn Colleran
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Scottie Barnes #4 of the Toronto Raptors takes a shot against the Los Angeles Lakers in the first half at Crypto.com Arena on March 10, 2023 in Los Angeles, California.
Scottie Barnes #4 of the Toronto Raptors takes a shot against the Los Angeles Lakers in the first half at Crypto.com Arena on March 10, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Ronald Martinez /Getty Images

It isn’t easy to lose a game where you have (arguably) the two best players on the floor in O.G. Anunoby and Scottie Barnes, both brilliant, and hold the great Anthony Davis to eight points. Yet, the Raptors did just that to end a frustrating road trip against the Los Angeles Lakers.

The why was obvious: The Toronto bench provided nothing. In fact, it lost the team the game, getting absolutely outclassed by whatever lineups the Lakers put on the floor.

Per NBA.com‘s John Schuhmann, Nick Nurse played his starters 27 minutes in the game and the group went +17 in that time. The Los Angeles starters (which of course didn’t include LeBron James) went -27. 

It was a disheartening finish and not at all what was expected to happen once the team got back Anunoby and added Jakob Poeltl. The bench, such a weakness all season, was supposed to morph into a strength, with Gary Trent Jr. and Precious Achiuwa leading the way (and, to a lesser extent, with Will Barton being added more recently to provide even more of a boost).

Trent’s track record indicates he will bounce back, as Nick Nurse expects him to. He can be a streaky scorer. An 0-for-9 night is an extreme aberration for Trent, even if he also has 2-for-11 and 2-for-7 games so far this month. He also went 6-for-9 three games ago and 11-for-18 the one before that. The problem is this team has les shooting talent than just about any in the NBA. If Trent (or Fred VanVleet or even Anunoby) are way off, they will have a tough time, more often than not, winning games. Add in Pascal Siakam seemingly running out of gas as the regular season approaches its finish line and the shooting slumps become even more punishing.

Achiuwa remains a riddle. He was mediocre to even poor for months early last season, before getting increasingly better over the final three months to the point that he was one of the most improved players in the league. This year he started slowly again but found a groove when inserted into the starting lineup. Instead of punishing second units, Achiuwa has been poor. That needs to change, and quickly.

AROUND THE RIM

  • Is Anthony Davis the best player in NBA history to inexplicably struggle against the Raptors? He’d get my vote. When Davis plays, he’s one of the premier two-way talents the NBA has seen. You can’t average 24 points, 10.3 rebounds and 2.3 blocks for a career and not be considered that level of a player. And yet, Davis has performed worse against the Raptors over the years than any other opponent, and it isn’t even close. Davis has averaged 16.2 points against Toronto in 12 meetings. His next lowest average is 19.1 against Orlando. Those are the only two teams he hasn’t averaged 20 against. For the sake of comparison, Davis has averaged over 28 points a game when facing both Charlotte and Detroit and 27 against Boston and Milwaukee. He’s only shot 44% against the Raptors, easily his lowest against anyone. It’s bizarre, Davis has rarely looked like himself when playing against Toronto.
  • Heading into Saturday’s games, the Raptors sat a game up on Washington for the honour of hosting a play-in game, 2.5 back of Atlanta (the road team in the first play-in game, but a team that would get two cracks at making the playoffs) and four back of Miami, which would host the first play-in game and also potentially get two cracks. Chicago is a game back of the Raptors, Indiana just 1.5 (with both playing awful opponents on Saturday, giving them a chance to creep closer). Toronto needs to go 9-5 to reach 500 and 10-4 to avoid a .500 or lower season in two of the last three years, which would be the first time that has happened since Toronto teams were .500 (once) or worse for six straight seasons starting in 2007-08.

THREE STARS VS. LAKERS

1 O.G. Anunoby

2 Scottie Barnes

3 Dennis Schroeder

Honourable mention: Jarred Vanderbilt, D’Angelo Russell, Jakob Poeltl

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Kevinn Colleran
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