Toronto Raptors: 1 stud and 1 dud from tough loss against Nets

The Toronto Raptors may have been handed a daunting challenge when they had to gear up for a Sunday matinee against Kevin Durant and the Brooklyn Nets, but they could at least take solace in the fact Pascal Siakam returned from injury. With Siakam alongside Scottie Barnes, OG Anunoby, and Fred VanVleet, this team’s starting lineup returned to full health.

After the first half, everything seemed to be working well. Siakam was hitting shots, James Harden was struggling, and the Raptors led by seven. While Siakam finished with 15 points and four rebounds in just 25 minutes, that effort didn’t correlate to a win.

As hard as it was to believe, Toronto actually blew a 7-point first-half lead and ended up falling to the Nets 116-103. While the two teams matched up fairly evenly for large chunks of the game, a third quarter in which Brooklyn outscored Toronto 35-17 was enough to give the Nets a win and drop the Raptors to 2-5 at home.

While some Toronto Raptors players need to step things up after a shabby performance, there were a handful of players who did everything they could to bring home a win.

Scottie Barnes was dominant at times for the Toronto Raptors.

While VanVleet led all Raptors in scoring and Precious Achiuwa had a fantastic game off of the bench, Barnes gets the nod for the player of the game here due to the fact he continued to prove how versatile he can be. Even with only eight points, Barnes was one of the main positives for Toronto.

Barnes snagged seven rebounds, dishes out four assists, and stole the ball five times. At an age where most players are being eased into NBA action, Barnes was told to match up defensively against Durant and Harden. While he didn’t completely shut them down, he did a more than admirable job.

Getting into foul trouble early on hurt Barnes’ chances of being effective for large chunks of the game, but that didn’t stop him from giving Durant some hits and performing well with a future Hall of Famer in Harden.

It was clear that the dam started to break when he left the game in the third. Barnes was a defensive standout, quality rebounder, and offensive generator in this game. Considering what he was asked to do in just his ninth NBA game, he should earn a gold star after his performance this afternoon.

Toronto Raptors guard Svi Mykhailiuk was roasted by the Nets

Mykhailiuk was the belle of the ball when Barnes was injured, as he started to look like the perfect tertiary gunner for a shooting-deficient lineup. After an uneven game in a loss against Cleveland, Mykhailiuk was hunted by Steve Nash and the Nets as soon as he stepped on the floor.

While Harden started the game off slowly, he started to get hot during that third quarter, taking advantage of every opportunity to get switched onto Mykhailiuk. Toronto tried to slow down the Nets with a zone near the end of the game, but Svi was just not up to the task defensively.

On offense, Mykhailiuk wasn’t good enough to make up for his struggles. In 21 minutes, Mykhailiuk made just two of his seven shots and one of his four 3-pointers. Nick Nurse will put up with some iffy defense from Svi, but if he’s not making shots, it’s hard to see where his short-term value lies.

Mykhailiuk didn’t have the best game, and while the return of Siakam is likely going to impact the frontcourt rotation, Yuta Watanabe will be healthy soon. With a few more clunkers like that, Watanabe could easily jump over the Ukrainian veteran in the rotation.