The Toronto Raptors saw Scottie Barnes set a career-high in assists but Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks proved too much on Sunday
It started a few weeks ago when the Raptors opted to move Davion Mitchell to the bench, letting Scottie Barnes handle lead playmaking duties as a non-traditional point guard. The thought process from Toronto was a relatively straightforward one: Give the ball to the best player and let him figure it out. The Raptors had previously toyed with the idea of making Barnes something like a full-time point guard, but it wasn’t until this year with Immanuel Quickley sidelined that it became a reality.
“His ability to play off the dribble, his vision to find his teammates, his shooting ability,” Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said of Barnes. “It used to always be a small guy was the point guard, but now we have guys that are 6’11”, 6’8” playing the point and it just changes the game, their vision, the window of passing is a little bit higher, and then also just their ability. These guys can all put it on the floor, get to the rim, and it just puts a lot of pressure on the defense.
He found Ochai Agbaji inside with a no-look pass to pull the Raptors to within eight in the middle of the fourth. Toronto clawed within five after Gradey Dick hit a pair of three-pointers who led Toronto with 27 points on Saturday. But the Raptors couldn't quite pull away as the Mavericks hit their free throws late to ice the game.
Just ask Jonathan Mogbo who actually managed to wall off Doncic twice in a single possession only for the superstar quasi-point guard to throw an over-the-head, behind-the-back no-look pass to Kyrie Irving who stood behind him for an open three.He fired a laser from behind half-court to find Klay Thompson in the far corner for a Mavericks three. As if that wasn’t enough, he banked in a buzzer-beating three from just across half-court to end the first half.
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