The Toronto Raptors have gone through a wild last couple of days.
After trading away Pascal Siakam to the Indiana Pacers, Masai Ujiri addressed the media talking about the change of direction for the franchise.
Then the Raptors took the court to take on DeMar DeRozan and the Chicago Bulls on Thursday night on TNT. It was a fun back and forth game that came down to the final minutes, but the Raptors fell short 116-110.
Despite the loss, Scottie Barnes showed up in a big way for the National TV audience to see.
Barnes had 31 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals, 3 blocks on 61 percent shooting from the field.
He scored 14 of his 31 points in the final 14 minutes of the game. Barnes seemingly took over and helped the Raptors get back into this game with a chance to win in the final frame.
However, Barnes did finish with 6 turnovers, which included some some key ones late.
Toronto also couldn’t hit threes as they did the other night in their blow out win against the Miami Heat. They struggled from three shooting 10/38.
The Raptors were also missing the presence of Jakob Poeltl and his rim protection in this one. The Bulls dominated the points in the paint 74-50.
Aside from Barnes’ stellar performance, RJ Barrett had 15 and Bruce Brown who officially made his Raptors debut had a solid outing from off the bench.
Without having any time to learn the plays, Brown was an easy fit on the court. He finished with 15 points and 7 rebounds.
The Raptors have now lost 5 of their last 6 games and fall to 16-26 on the year.
In a rebuilding era wins and loses don’t matter as much. I’s going to be all about how the Raptors perform in these kinds of games.
Next on tap
The Raptors will travel to New York to take on the Knicks on Jan. 20. This is game is going to be special because it will be Quickley and Barrett’s return to New York. Also the Raptors will take on O.G. Anunoby for the first time since the trade.
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