Raptors @ Nuggets, Nov. 4 Takeaways: Denver proves to be heartbreak central
Barrett, Dick, Poeltl continue to lead the way but it just wasn't enough
Toronto finished 0-2 in its season series against Denver, and both games came down to an R.J. Barrett 3-point attempt at the buzzer. This time, Barrett’s shot looked good and somehow found a way rattle in and out as the Nuggets escaped 121-119.
While the Raptors remain without Scottie Barnes, Immanuel Quickley, Bruce Brown, and Kelly Olynyk, the playing field was evened a bit as Jamal Murray was forced to miss the game due to a concussion and Aaron Gordon left the game in the second quarter with a strained calf.
Here are the takeaways:
Dick’s ceiling breaking new barriers
Erase whatever expectations you had of Gradey Dick before the season began, this is a soon to be 21-year-old who has seemingly gone from Year 1 to Year 5 in his sophomore season.
Dick went into the summer and downloaded all the upgrade packages. He’s shooting threes from wherever he can get a look, punishing closeouts that are even slightly poor. Heck, he doesn’t even need a poor closeout to break down his defender and create enough separation for a mid-range pull-up or get all the way to the basket.
His off-ball movement already looks elite, and as I’ve mentioned previously, the fact that he’s taking on the shot volume he is and moving as much as he is without ever looking tired is a tremendous credit to the conditioning work he put in during the off-season.
We talk a lot about his offence, but the defence over the last couple of games has looked solid, too. There were the clutch stops he pulled off late against the Kings and here he held his own against Christian Braun while also showing his nose for the ball with some nice steals. On one play, Jokic contested a Dick three before scampering down the court and forcing Dick to pick him up for the mismatch. Michael Porter Jr. tried to find Jokic early, but Dick fronted superbly to knock the ball away.
Is he a bigger Tyler Herro with better defence or the second coming of Larry Bird? We’ll just have to wait and find out.
Barrett’s efficiency returning to earth
You’ve got to feel for R.J. Barrett. He missed a three for the win in Toronto against the Nuggets and now had another three for the win rattle in and out in Denver. He’s been so good leading the Raptors offence — and had nine assists in this one — in the absence of Scottie Barnes and Immanuel Quickley that he probably deserved one of them to go down.
After shooting 54 percent from the field through the first three games, though, Barrett’s efficiency has taken a hit. Over the last two games, Barrett has shot 10-for-27 on twos and 5-for-20 on threes.
Some of this is to be expected as teams show Barrett more attention with Barnes and Quickley out. This is something to monitor going forward, though, as the big question coming into this season for Barrett offensively was whether he could maintain the career-best efficiency he showed as a Raptor last season.
In those 32 games a year ago, Barrett shot 60.5% on twos and 39.2% on threes. Through five games, Barrett stands at 47.9% on twos and 37.8% on threes.
Poeltl gives Jokic a taste of his own medicine
Nikola Jokic did it all once again on Monday night with 28 points, 14 rebounds, and 14 assists. All you can hope to do is at least make life as difficult as possible for him. Jakob Poeltl did his part in that.
Poeltl continues to finish exceedingly well around the basket, and seemed to catch Jokic off guard with some vintage, nifty finishing en route to a season-high 24 points. Defensively, keeping Jokic under 50% shooting is a win, and it was a good team effort to help force the Serbian into seven turnovers as well.
After averaging just under eight field goal attempts over the first three games, Poeltl has helped alleviate some of the scoring load by averaging nearly 14 shots over the last five games. He’s also shooting 62.7% from the field during that span.
If you had to nitpick right now, you’d like to see him foul less often, as his sixth foul with just under four minutes remaining and the Raptors clinging to a four-point lead was a big blow down the stretch. Poeltl has fouled out in each of the last two games as he tries to carry the load at centre as much as possible.
Will fun losing no longer be fun?
The Raptors have now dropped to 2-6 on the season having played some very exciting games, losing from situations that reflect a very young team learning on the fly.
Darko Rajakovic’s timeout usage has been questioned, in particular the lack of one near the very end of this Nuggets game when the Raptors were scrambling to get a shot off as the shot clock expired (clip below). While there have been some interesting lineup choices in the middle of each half, the lack of healthy bodies is the biggest factor in that.
No one likes to see mistakes repeated, but it is also understandable that it’s hard to skip steps in this league. This is where Masai Ujiri’s messaging before the season that this is a rebuilding year is so crucial. As the Joker in The Dark Knight said, no one panics when it’s all part of the plan.
How much of this changes when Quickley returns? How about when Barnes is back in about a month? Has this team already altered expectations because of the individual growth different players have shown? It’ll be interesting to see how things play out when healthy.
Notes
Ja’Kobe Walter knocked down his first NBA three, finishing off a great team possession where Poeltl battled hard for an offensive board, Mogbo helped secure it and showed good patience to dribble it out and find Shead on the perimeter. Shead then drove to the basket and kicked out to Dick above the arc, who then swung it to Walter in the corner.
Quickley’s status for this Denver game remained doubtful and until we see an upgrade to at least questionable it will be hard to anticipate his return, even though one would like to think it’ll be at some point in this week whether it be in Sacramento or Los Angeles.
CONTENT PLUG
Discussed Vince Carter’s jersey retirement ceremony with Sean Woodley on the Locked on Raptors podcast.
Talked more about Carter’s jersey retirement ceremony with Ailish Forfar and Justin Cuthbert on The FAN Pregame for Sportsnet.