For those of you who think one player's absence can't make a difference between victory and defeat, just look at the Toronto Raptors' losing effort against the Indiana Pacers on February 26.
As the boys from up north geared up to face a familiar foe in ex-franchise star Pascal Siakam and company, their injury report unfortunately included current cornerstone Scottie Barnes, who was labeled as questionable with a "left hip contusion."
By tip-off, the Raptors officially ruled out Barnes (with center Jakob Poeltl returning to the lineup instead), leaving them without their defensive standout, who has proven to be a game-changer in Toronto's recent stretch of matchups.
Seeing as Barnes has the defensive assignment to guard the opposing squad's best offensive threats, it opens the floodgates for a Pacers unit that prides itself on being an offensive powerhouse. Speaking of players who can make all the difference, all it took for Indiana to swing the game in their favor was a stroke of three-point sharpshooting luck, courtesy of their point guard and center duo, Tyrese Haliburton and Myles Turner.
Pacers duo single-handedly made the difference in winning effort vs. Raptors
The rest of Indiana's team struggled from distance, aside from Aaron Nesmith, who was able to knock down 2-for-5 of this shots. However, the tandem of Haliburton and Turner combined for 12 of the Pacers' 15 made three-pointers out of 37 attempts, resulting in a 40% team total shooting percentage.
On the flip side, it was an atrocious shooting night for Toronto (much like it proved to be an issue against Boston on February 25), as they were only able to secure 6 of their 27 three-pointers—a measly 22% team shooting percentage.
If you can't stop a team with your defense, you better hope the rest of the squad can step up with a quality offensive effort. Unfortunately, the stars just didn’t align for the Raptors in either regard. Toronto might have had six players hit double digits in scoring, but when two guys on the other side—Haliburton and Turner—each posted a +24 plus/minus, and the entire Toronto squad was a net negative, that’s enough to indicate a lopsided affair for the Raptors.
The broadcast made a great point during the game: it's times like this when the Raptors need an unexpected surge from a player like Chris Boucher, who could be inserted into the game to get you some buckets. Unfortunately for the wily vet, he was unable to find his rhythm, going scoreless in over 18 minutes of on-court time.
For those on Team Tank, losses like this are exactly what they want to see from the Raptors. However, they'll need to clean up some things before heading down to Chicago on February 28 for a showdown with the Bulls.