The Raptors are flying high after back-to-back wins over the Suns and Pistons. RJ Barrett’s scoring was a big part of those wins. He scored 22 points on 56.3% shooting from the field against the Suns and dropped 27 points on 64.7% shooting against the Pistons.
After the win over Detroit, it was Barrett’s defense that earned him praise from his head coach and teammate, though.
“There’s absolutely nothing that’s preventing him from being an elite two-way player,” Darko Rajakovic said about Barrett in the postgame press conference. “We’re preaching that to him. There’s no physical attribute that he does not have, he’s capable of guarding one through four; anybody in the league. Just having that grit and mindset of doing it over and over and over again. And he showed us in moments that he’s capable of doing it, but lately he’s doing it in much longer periods, and that’s really helping the team win.”
Brandon Ingram agreed with Rajakovic. “He’s taken the challenge, especially these last two games,” Ingram said about Barrett. “His effort, his intensity. He really wants to guard, and that energy is going over to the offensive end, and it’s helping him out a lot.”
According to the NBA’s stat page, the Raptors had a 111.9 defensive rating with Barrett on the court over the last two games and a 128.6 defensive rating with him off the court.
Defense is key to the Raptors’ success
The Raptors don’t always look like a great offensive team. They rank 19th in the league in offensive rating and often struggle to make threes. They have plenty of players who can score at a high level. Ingram, Barrett, Scottie Barnes, and Immanuel Quickley all average at least 17 points per game. Nevertheless, the Raptors only rank 22nd in points per game across the league.
When you don’t always score a ton, the easiest way to swing a game in your favor is to limit your opponent’s scoring and to generate some easy buckets with your defense. The Raptors do that pretty well. They sport the seventh-best defensive rating in the league. They only allow opponents to score 111.9 points per game on average and limit them to 46.5% shooting.
Scottie Barnes is the unquestionable backbone of that defense, and he should make an All-Defensive Team this season, but playing the kind of defense the Raptors need to consistently beat good teams requires effort and intensity from everyone on the court. If Barrett is locked in and defending at a high level, it only makes the Raptors better in every aspect of the game.