Three nights after playing center against Philadelphia, and with Fred VanVleet nursing the back, Barnes played admirably at the point, finishing with 21 points, eight assists and seven rebounds in Toronto’s 139-109 rout of the Atlanta Hawks. “I was just taking the looks they were giving me, trying to take advantage, make the right plays at the right time,” Barnes said. Pascal Siakam had 31 points and 12 rebounds in Toronto’s seventh straight win over the Hawks at Scotiabank Arena. Gary Trent Jr. added 21 points, OG Anunoby finished with 14 points and six steals, Chris Boucher scored 11 points and Precious Achiuwa had 10 for Toronto (4-3). Dejude Murray led Atlanta (4-3) with 20 points. After an ugly 112-90 loss to Philadelphia on Friday, the Raptors led for most of the night and went up by as many as 17 points late in the third quarter before taking a 95-80 advantage into the fourth. A pair of Achiuwa free throws put Toronto ahead by 20 points less than a minute into the fourth quarter before Murray’s driving layup cut the deficit to 15. But the Raptors answered every Hawks run and when rookie Christian Koloko – who won his first NBA start — cut to the rim for a dunk, the basket gave Toronto a 24-point lead, much to the delight of the Scotiabank Arena capacity crowd of 19,800 fans. The fans chanted “MVP!” when Siakam connected on two free throws with 5:22 to play. The baskets put Toronto up by 29, and coach Nick Nurse emptied his bench at that point. While Nurse praised Barnes’ ability to run the offense, he was more impressed with his defensive effort. The Raptors had a great night on defense, forcing 18 Hawks turnovers for 24 points. “(Barnes) was pressing, dancing the ball, jumping up front for transition buckets, really getting us going on offense — but his defense was outstanding tonight,” Nurse said. The 6-9 Barnes, who played point guard at Florida State, said at media day that kicked off the season opener that he was eager to play more at the point this season. “He can play every position basically, and the good thing is he’s willing to do it,” Colocco said of Barnes. “When the coaches tell him to play (center), he’s cool with it…he’s willing to do it for the team. That’s just the type of player he is.” Barnes hit three straight 3-pointers in less than a minute in the first quarter, and Bowser’s 3-pointer with 3:07 left in the frame capped a 7-0 run that put Toronto up 11. It led 34-28 to start the second. . Young’s three midway through the second quarter saw the Hawks go up by three points, but Barnes’ 3-pointer was the highlight of the Raptors’ 20-4 run that put them behind by 13. Toronto went into the halftime break with 64 – 53. The Hawks got within a point early in the third quarter, but their momentum was short-lived and when Trent connected on a pair of free throws late in the frame, the Raptors led by 17, their largest lead at that point. “A team like that is going to hit you, like they did,” Hawks coach Nate McMillan said. “I thought there was more urgency from them. They played harder. They fired us up.” VANBET OUT VanVleet will have to wait at least one more game to make up for his 0-for-11 shooting night in Friday’s loss to Philadelphia. He sat out Monday’s game a day after being unable to practice due to lower back stiffness. “I thought he’d be ready to go tonight, but he wasn’t,” said the Nurse. ALL IN THE FAMILY The game marked the first time AJ Griffin, the son of Raptors assistant Adrian Griffin and a rookie with the Hawks, faced his dad’s team in an NBA game. “It’s really nice, especially for Griff, Griff and I are very close,” Nurse said. “We watched a lot of Duke basketball (where AJ played) last year. He’s proud. … He’s a very, very nice young man. When the ball goes up, we’ve got to make sure he doesn’t shoot open, because he can shoot.” NEXT The Raptors travel to Texas for games at San Antonio on Wednesday and Dallas on Friday. They return home to host DeMar DeRozan and the Chicago Bulls on Sunday. The Hawks travel to New York to play the Knicks on Wednesday. This report by The Canadian Press was first published on October 31, 2022.
