Scottie Barnes drops some brutal honesty about lifeless Toronto Raptors
Toronto Raptors star forward Scottie Barnes might not have been banging on the table in his post-game media scrum on Sunday night, but it’s not that hard to read between the lines of his answers.
Taking on the Atlanta Hawks at Scotiabank Arena, a quick look at Barnes’ statline might’ve seemed like a pretty standard performance: 19 points, eight rebounds, and five assists, pretty much in line with his season averages of 20.0 points, 7.8 rebounds and 7.2 assists.
But a season-high eight turnovers and a season-low -34 plus-minus from Barnes underscored an ugly night for the host Raptors, who were blown out 136-107 by the Hawks in their final home game of 2024.
And while they won’t get a reset button on their season, nobody is probably looking forward to the New Year more than the Raptors, who have now lost 10 games in a row.
“We finished the game with 31 turnovers,” Toronto head coach Darko Rajakovic said. “We’re not giving ourselves a chance.”
Rajakovic suggested that the team, who has been dealing with a locker room illness and the league’s third-most games lost to injury, has “hit a wall” as they near the midpoint of the season, dropping to a 7-25 record.
“It’s on us, we’ve gotta push through that sh*t,” Barnes said, referring to any fatigue suggested by his head coach. “We’ve just got to be better defensively, guard the ball better, help each other, more rebounds, do those things. Just get back to winning. This isn’t fun, losing games by 30.”
If there was any saving grace for Toronto on the day, it was the return of Bruce Brown, who returned to the lineup for the first time this season following a knee surgery.
“I felt great,” said Brown, who chipped in 12 points in 19 minutes of action.
The Raptors will be on the road against the defending NBA champions for a New Years Eve matinee, taking on the Boston Celtics this coming Tuesday.
And while the team has a practice tomorrow and likely an extra film session or two might be coming before that, Barnes indicated that the Raptors won’t really be earning much respect around the league should their losing streak continue.
“All the talking, it doesn’t mean nothing if we don’t [start playing better],” Barnes said.
“At some point we’ve got to stand up and fight, starting with me,” Barnes added. “We’ve just got to come together and do this thing the right way.”
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