Rested Raptors look revived, Scottie Barnes' late heroics seals win over Miami Heat

The Toronto Raptors finally returned to action in Miami on Monday and looked a lot better following nearly a week off, taking on a team in their weight class, one also expected to battle for a playoff or play-in spot this season.

Not surprisingly, the back-and-forth affair came down to the wire, with the Raptors bending, but not quite breaking thanks to some game-changing plays on both ends from superstar Scottie Barnes, fuelling a big win.
Some takeaways:

REST SURE HELPS

It was expected that the game would be a crisper, better-executed one than normal since both teams had far more rest than usual. Both had not played since last Tuesday because they each lost in the NBA Cup quarterfinal. That gave them all fresher legs, including Jakob Poeltl, who has been slowed by back soreness in recent weeks, and Brandon Ingram, who had been playing a ton after missing most of last season due to injury.

Both those Raptors looked as expected, far more fluid, efficient and effective, especially in a tight first half. Ingram had more lift on his shot and more pep in his step defensively, while Poeltl didn’t look nailed to the ground as he has at times when his back was really acting up.

It also probably didn’t hurt that both teams were motivated, having lost four straight heading in, including games that booted them from the NBA Cup spotlight.

POWELL POWERING HEAT

The trade that brought Norman Powell to Toronto was arguably the second-best turned by Masai Ujiri and Bobby Webster. Conversely, the deal to send him to Portland will go down as one of their worst.

Milwaukee was desperate for unknown reasons to acquire backup point guard Greivis Vasquez and gave Toronto assets that would turn into OG Anunoby, Powell and the cap space to sign Cory Joseph, providing much of the depth that fuelled the We The North Era.

But years later, after a championship had been won and with Powell emerging as a starting caliber player, the front office mistakenly believed that was the extent of his potential upside and that he wouldn’t be worth the money he’d be looking for in free agency. Powell was moved for Gary Trent Jr., a younger shooting guard and while Trent had his moments, he wasn’t as good as Powell was then and definitely not as good as Powell became.

Powell deserved all-star consideration last year with the Los Angeles Clippers, especially before Kawhi Leonard returned to the lineup, and when that team foolishly traded him to Miami, he made another jump.

Powell entered Monday leading Miami in scoring at 24.6 points a game, and remains one of the best shooters in the entire NBA (50% from the field, 43.6% on three-point attempts). The Raptors struggled to contain Powell, especially in the second quarter, when at one point he scored eight of Miami’s 14 points in a row.

At least Toronto has company in making bad deals to get rid of Powell. Portland nearly immediately moved on, selling him for next to nothing and the Clippers got less than the Raptors for him even though he’d only become a better player.

Another familiar face was a thorn in Toronto’s side for Miami. Davion Mitchell, who spent part of last season with the club before being dealt after Jamal Shead leap-frogged him in the rotation, hit some three-pointers and drew a bunch of fouls with his typically dogged defence. He helped put Barnes in foul trouble by drawing a questionable offensive foul in the third quarter. But Shead was the more impactful player overall and Toronto made the right choice last year and moving forward in elevating him.

BARRETT BACK SOON?

The Raptors promised an update on RJ Barrett Monday and followed through with one of the positive variety. Barrett has not played since Nov. 23 after suffering a right knee sprain on a non-contact play.

The team said Barrett is progressing after receiving a platelet-rich plasma injection and will begin return to play activities this week.

That usually means some non-contact work, followed by a return to full-contact practice and if all goes well, Barrett would then return to the starting lineup. He led Toronto in scoring the last two seasons and ranked third, behind Ingram and Barnes this year when he got hurt.

The team’s collapse since is not only because of his absence, but it certainly has not helped as the offence lost a key contributor and driver. The team’s other shooting guards have not been able to find any consistency and have not filled the void. Gradey Dick at least had one of his best games of the year Monday.

Miami was without its own star scoring guard, Tyler Herro, who was a late scratch just prior to tipoff.

ROOKIE IMPRESSES

Collin Murray-Boyles has been solid, if unspectacular so far as a rookie for the Raptors. He’s defended far better than most first-year players, rebounded pretty well and shot the ball a lot better than he did in college. But most of his work has flown under the radar, without much flash.

But Murray-Boyles made two spectacular plays in a row in the third quarter. First, after getting blown by by Heat star big man Bam Adebayo, fiercely swatted away what Adebayo thought would be a wide open slam dunk. Then Murray-Boyles show-cased his underrated play-making capabilities by throwing a tremendous pass trough traffic to create an open layup.

He had his fingerprints all over the game in the third, helping the Raptors pull ahead briefly (though he did make a mistake in trying to put the ball on the floor and attack, which isn’t yet his game).

Barnes, Ingram and Murray-Boyles seem like a nice three-man group of forwards to fill the 96 minutes a night required at power forward and small forward long-term for the Raptors (with Barnes and Murray-Boyles also able to play some small-ball centre and Ingram an option as a big shooting guard at times if necessary).

NEXT UP: This short road trip ends Thursday in Milwaukee, before Boston visits Toronto for its second weekend game in three weeks. Then it’s three on the road, including another meeting in South Beach on Dec. 23.

@WOLSTATSUN