TORONTO – It shouldn’t have been possible to do what the Toronto Raptors did on Sunday.
You’re not supposed to miss 26 of your 30 three-point attempts and be in position to win a basketball game, let alone a playoff game. If it seems unfathomable in an era where offensive talent is widespread across the NBA, scoring is at an all-time high, and shooting has never been more important, it’s because it is.
Since the dawn of the three-point line in 1979, no team had shot 32 per cent or worse from the field in a playoff game and won. No team until the 2025-26 Toronto Raptors.
“We just never, never flinched. We continued guarding and guarding,” head coach Darko Rajakovic said after his team’s series-tying 93-89 Game 4 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers – one of the strangest games and grittiest victories you’ll ever see at this or any level. “Whatever it takes. Just find a way to win the game.”
So, how did they do it?
They did it by following a familiar formula, one that has worked for them all season – remarkably, they’re 8-4 when shooting below 26 per cent from three-point range. They did it by staying true to their identity, an identity that is powered by and built in the image of their best player.
If these Raptors are an anomaly, it’s because Scottie Barnes is an anomaly. An unconventional team led by an unconventional star, verging on superstar.
Sunday’s game was a slog from start to finish, as is often the case with these afternoon contests. Professional athletes are creatures of habit; when you alter their routines it can and usually messes with their rhythm. And so, naturally, the two teams combined to shoot 14-for-48 in the opening quarter.
At one point late in the first half, Toronto was 1-for-18 from beyond the arc. It was ugly, but no matter how bad their shooting woes got, the Raptors never let it impact their focus or execution on the defensive end of the floor. They were unrelenting, winning the game to even their first-round series with Cleveland through sheer will and force.
That’s Barnes in a nutshell. It’s not always pretty, but whatever he lacks in style, he more than makes up for in substance. He’s the type of player that wins on the margins. Good shooting night, bad shooting night, doesn’t matter. He’ll find a way. Whatever it takes.
“I’m just trying to win basketball games,” said Barnes, who shot just 6-of-15 and missed both his three-point attempts but scored or assisted on 35 of Toronto’s 93 points and recorded four stocks (steals and blocks) in 42 minutes – the most he’s played in a regulation game this season. “I think that’s what makes me better, trying to do whatever it takes to win basketball game, making that effort, those extra efforts, trying to do more than what I can do.”
Few are asked to do more.
With Immanuel Quickley battling a hamstring injury and officially ruled out for the series, Barnes is the acting starting point guard, recording a team-high 17 assists over the past two games.
After starting the series guarding Evan Mobley, he’s inherited the James Harden assignment. Harden, who went off for 50 points on 53 per cent shooting in the first two games, was held to 37 points on 41 per cent, while committing 15 turnovers over the last two.
He made 19 of his 24 free throw attempts in the two Toronto wins, including 6-of-6 over the final 35 seconds to ice Game 4. In Thursday’s series and season-saving Game 3 win, he became the first Raptor ever to record at least 30 points, 10 assists and five rebounds in a playoff game. He’s the first player in franchise history to open a playoff run with four consecutive 20-plus point outings.
Not even Kawhi Leonard did it in 2019.
While Harden and Donovan Mitchell were spectacular to open the series, there’s a good case to be made that Barnes has been its best and most consistent player through four games, especially when you consider his workload and impact on both ends of the floor.
When Barnes got his first taste of playoff basketball in 2022, he was a 20-year-old rookie playing a supporting role and dealing with an ankle injury; you can almost write it off. This feels like a coronation, a true coming out party for one of the league’s rising stars.
It’s not as if he’s an unknown commodity. He was selected to his second career All-Star Game back in February and is a lock to make his first NBA All-Defensive team when they’re announced this spring. He finished fifth in Defensive Player of the Year voting, which is nothing to scoff at, though his teammates and coaches believe he should have been higher and they may have a point.
“I think people downplay Scottie and how important he is to this team, this defence, and just what we do,” said guard Jamal Shead. “Our defence is predicated a lot on what he does and we just follow it. He deserves all the credit, and I think everybody’s eyes are opening a little bit now.”
The Raptors aren’t exactly loaded with elite defensive talent, especially inside the starting lineup. None of Quickley, Brandon Ingram, RJ Barrett, or Jakob Poeltl are known for their work on that side of the ball.
Outside of Barnes, regular reserves Collin Murray-Boyles, Shead, and Ja’Kobe Walter are probably their best individual defenders. Yet, they were a top five defensive team during the regular season.
There are good defenders, then there are the ones that are so good, so special that they elevate their teammates and make up for some of the liabilities around them. In most cases, those are backline defenders, guys that protect the bucket and can erase mistakes being made on the perimeter.
That’s why Defensive Player of the Year candidates are often big men, like three of the four guys who finished ahead of Barnes this season (Victor Wembanyama, Chet Holmgren, and Rudy Gobert) or the Cavs frontcourt duo of Mobley (last year’s winner) and Jarrett Allen. To do that while guarding all five positions from the perimeter to the rim and everything in between is what makes him so unique.
“It’s special to watch what he does,” forward Jamison Battle said of Barnes after Game 3. “He never takes plays off… We have to play to that level every single night because our leader is doing it. That’s what you want from your leader.”
We saw it on Sunday. Whether it was Shead diving into the backcourt to force a crucial eight-second violation inside of the final minute, or Murray-Boyles throwing his body around to secure extra possessions on the offensive glass, this is a team that has taken on Barnes’ playing personality.
His DNA is all over this series, a series many thought would be over in four or five games, especially after how it started. Part of the learning curve is figuring out how to impose your will, stick to the game plan, and play your preferred style once you get hit in the mouth. That’s playoff basketball.
It’s a brand-new series now. The Raptors are learning. They’re growing, they’re winning, and they’re doing it Barnes’ way.
“I expect [even] more from Scottie,” Rajakovic said. “Scottie’s going to bring more. Scottie right now, the way he’s playing, he’s at 60 percent of the player he’s going to be in two or three years. Scottie’s going to be one of the best players in the league. He’s already one of the best players in the league. How much he cares about winning, it’s pushing him forward to do whatever it takes to win the game.”
