The Toronto Raptors ended their four-game road trip with a loss to the Miami Heat to fall to 0-3 in NBA Cup group play.
Scottie Barnes impressive triple-double performance
Despite the loss Barnes had another standout game for the Raptors. Barnes had an incredible first-half with 15 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 three-pointers made. Barnes had a couple of highlight reel passes in this game. He hit Jonathan Mogbo with a one-handed bullet pass in the second quarter. Then in the third quarter Barnes was trapped in a double team in the low post and threw an overhead pass to Ocahi Agabji who hit the three. Overall, Barnes finished with 24 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. He now has 6 career triple-doubles which is second on the Raptors all-time triple-doubles list just behind Kyle Lowry who has 16.
Ja’Kobe Walter starts again
Walter made his second career start with Gradey Dick sidelined and he showed a lot of good things. In the second quarter, he hit Jakob Poeltl with a no-look pass and then he made a pull up mid-range jumpshot. Defensively is where Walter was solid. He locked down Duncan Robinson twice, as he forced a shot clock violation late in the second quarter. The Raptors kept Walter on the court in the final minutes of the four quarter, giving the rookie valuable reps in crunch time. He continued his good defense on Terry Rozier. However, Walter did have a big turnover late which proved costly. He tried to drive to the basket for a layup, but lost control as the ball went out of bounds.
Raptors need to take more threes
When the Raptors blew out the New Orleans Pelicans on Nov. 27 they attempted 52 threes and made 21 of them. In this game the Raptors only attempted 29 threes and made 11. Meanwhile, the Heat shot 54 threes and made 21. Miami was 2-for-17 from deep in the first quarter but then went 19-for-37 the rest of the game. It wasn’t even about efficiency as the Heat shot 38.9 percent to the Raptors 37.9 percent. It just came down to volume. Even when the Heat started the game shooting poorly from three, they still kept firing away. The Raptors are 29th in three-pointers attempted per game this season. It’ll help when they get Immanuel Quickley, Bruce Brown, Kelly Olynyk and Dick back in the rotation. But it’s simple. If the Raptors want to win more games, they need to adapt to the new NBA and take more threes.
Next on tap
The Raptors will return home on Dec. 1 to begin a five-game homestand when they host the Heat.
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