Takeaways: Raptors @ Wolves, Oct. 26

Dick, Agbaji were bright spots in what was always a difficult trip to Minnesota

Photo by David Berding /Getty Images

Toronto faced a tall task going up against the mighty Timberwolves in Minnesota on the second night of a back-to-back but showed some fighting spirit to keep things competitive even if the final result was never in doubt.

The Wolves took charge early with a 16-3 start, and when the Raptors cut the lead to nine in the third quarter, they switched through the gears to go on a 13-0 run that pushed the lead to 22.

Denver is up next, who will be looking to bounce back in Toronto after losing their first two games of the season to the Thunder and Clippers. R.J. Barrett was upgraded to questionable before the Wolves game but was ultimately ruled out. There’s a decent chance he’ll make his season debut on Monday.

Here are takeaways from a Saturday night in Minnesota:

BARNES STRUGGLES ONCE AGAIN

Don’t be fooled by the box score, Scottie Barnes won’t be too happy with his performance in this one. Despite a solid looking 20-7-6 final line, 12 of those points came in the fourth quarter with Minnesota well in control and we have seen plenty of ‘Fourth Quarter Scottie.’ He also had six turnovers and earned his first two free-throws of the game in the fourth quarter.

As he tries to make the transition to franchise player, the expectations with regards to consistency and leadership are the ones that come most into focus. This season, it has to be done within the context that this is his first full year in the role, he’s 23-years-old, and still on his rookie contract before his big extension kicks in next season.

Barnes really struggled to create quality looks for himself in the first half, and through three quarters looked a shadow of the player who controlled proceedings against the Sixers a night ago. In the absence of Quickley and Barrett, teams with quality interior defence will happily crowd the paint and dare Barnes to beat them with the jumper and he was unable to do so. Perhaps what was more discouraging was that after missing a few jumpers, Barnes seemed to shy away from taking them completely.

With Minnesota taking their foot off the accelerator in the fourth quarter, Barnes was able to get more looks on the move and that helped a great deal.

DICK SHOWS IMPROVED OFFENSIVE PACKAGE

He had the best offensive night of his NBA career but specifically for a stretch in the third quarter, it was the Gradey Dick show. He knocked down a three, a tough fadeaway and-1 over Rudy Gobert, as well as a beautiful tear drop attacking baseline again over Gobert.

Dick has credited the individual work he’s put in with assistant coach Ivo Simovic over the summer and he’s reaping the rewards now. My favourite shot was probably the running banker over Gobert after he zoomed by Jaden McDaniels — who lost his footing trying to work around a Poeltl screen.

Defensively, the Raptors tried to hide Dick on Mike Conley to start the game with Ochai Agbaji and Davion Mitchell taking on Anthony Edwards and Jaden McDaniels. It was an interesting wrinkle, but the Wolves found ways to use Conley as a screener and get Dick switched onto Edwards at times. Below is an example:

Minnesota is just so big to matchup against. Dick also spent some time on McDaniels, and that’s probably the matchup he’s best suited for when Quickley and Barrett are healthy.

The story here is the 25 points on 9-of-16 shooting including 4-of-9 from deep in just 29 minutes, on the road no less. Through three games, Dick’s offensive process has been very good even if the results weren’t quite there for him against the Sixers. As far as the big picture goes, I’ll gladly take him having really good performances against two strong teams and the off-night coming against a shorthanded team.

AGBAJI BUILDS ON SUCCESS AGAINST SIXERS

Ochai Agbaji has been given the most opportunity in the absence of Barrett with a spot in the starting lineup. Over the last two games, he’s shown why Rajakovic views him as the right choice.

In my previous takeaways, I noted how Agbaji showed his offensive impact can be beyond a three-point shot, and this time he gave the Raptors more of that while also knocking down three corner triples. What’s encouraging with his jumper so far is the mindset, there’s no hesitation at all to get an open shot off.

MITCHELL STRUGGLES TO SCORE

Davion Mitchell finished the game with zero points on 0-for-3 shooting. With all key players missing, Toronto needs something out of its temporary starting point guard as he did against Philadelphia with a couple threes.

We know the defence is always going to be there, but the extent to which he struggled to even create a shot for himself showed why Sacramento deemed him expendable without receiving much in return.

Mitchell did have some good moments playmaking in the third quarter, operating a few quality pick-and-roll actions with Jakob Poeltl. Jamal Shead definitely looks the better playmaker, and we could be in for quite the battle for backup guard minutes once Quickley is healthy.

FAKE COMEBACK A WELCOME SIGHT

Toronto was always up against it facing a quality opponent on its home floor, and even more so considering it was the second night of a back-to-back.

Despite the Wolves comfortably keeping the Raptors at arm’s length, there was good fighting spirit to at least ensure things didn’t get out of hand. After Toronto cut the lead to nine early in the third quarter, Minnesota responded with a 13-0 run that could have led to things getting ugly as they did against Cleveland.

Instead, the Raptors stuck with it and cut the lead to seven with just under a couple minutes to go. Yes, we can easily file this in the fake comeback category but even a fake comeback was needed after the way this team got pummeled in the home opener without putting up any kind of resistance.

Notes

• Jonathan Mogbo only saw nine minutes after his terrific performance against the Sixers. Bruno Fernando did have a few decent minutes in the second half.

• Jamison Battle had nine points and six rebounds in 19 minutes for another positive outing at the NBA level, though the jumper wasn’t quite as potent.

• D.J. Carton struggled in this one, having a couple of casual turnovers and getting massively rejected by Gobert at the basket on a rushed layup attempt. He just wasn’t at the races in this one.