{"id":115662,"date":"2025-01-02T13:43:48","date_gmt":"2025-01-02T18:43:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=115662"},"modified":"2025-01-02T13:43:48","modified_gmt":"2025-01-02T18:43:48","slug":"immanuel-quickleys-return-scottie-barnes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/01\/02\/immanuel-quickleys-return-scottie-barnes\/","title":{"rendered":"What Immanuel Quickley’s Return Means For Scottie Barnes"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Toronto Raptors have played this season predominantly without a starting-caliber point guard, leaving the primary ball-handling duties in the hands of Scottie Barnes<\/a> and RJ Barrett<\/a>. While Barnes and Barrett have stretched themselves to meet their responsibilities, it has taken a toll. Before last night, the Raptors averaged 17.4 turnovers<\/a> on their 11-game slide, with Barnes and Barrett averaging over three turnovers<\/a>\u00a0for the season. Immanuel Quickley<\/a> has been back for one game, but the difference between the team and Barnes’s play is night and day.<\/span><\/p>\n

What Immanuel Quickley’s Return Means For Scottie Barnes<\/h2>\n

Immanuel Quickley Returning Joy to Toronto<\/b><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Heading into the game against the Brooklyn Nets, the Raptors were in the middle of their worst stretch<\/a> of the season and franchise history. On the court, it was clear the stacking losses were beginning to get to players. With frustration seeping in, the team started to slip on the court, giving up an average of 138.8 points and 20.5 turnovers<\/a> in the four games leading up to the Nets matchup. However, with Quickley’s calming and joyful presence back in the lineup, the rest of the team is following his lead<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

It’s only been one game since Quickley returned, and Toronto only played against Brooklyn, but the energy last night was electric compared to their previous four outings. The Raptors held the Nets to just 113 points, the first time they’ve held an opponent below 120+ points in four games. More importantly, they only turned the ball over 11 times, their fewest in 15 games<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Opening Up the Court For Scottie Barnes<\/b><\/strong><\/h3>\n

With Quickley injured, Barnes was the team’s de facto starting PG. When the lead guard duties fell on him, Barnes was forced to shift his game to fit his new role, increasing his three-point attempts and trying to play a predominantly perimeter-oriented style. While Barnes has improved his handle and outside shot, he still has to improve before he can comfortably step into the lead guard role. However, with Quickley back in the lineup and taking over the primary ball-handling duties, Barnes can return to playing to his strengths. <\/span><\/p>\n

Barnes excels as a play-finisher. Last night, with Quickley running the show, Barnes could return to that role, getting multiple easy looks, including an alley-oop<\/a> that swung the momentum in Toronto’s favor. Thanks to Quickley, Barnes could live right at the rim, taking half his shots nine feet in<\/a> or closer and dominating the Nets inside, connecting on 8\/9 shots. Also, with Quickley back, teams can’t load up as much on Barnes when he does look to iso, giving him more space to create his buckets. More importantly, with the former Rookie of the Year as the secondary ball-handler, he has more energy for the other side of the ball. Last night was one of Barnes’ best defensive performances<\/a> this season. He recorded two steals and one block, completely shut down Ben Simmons<\/a>, and helped Toronto control the glass, as rebounding was a weakness<\/a> recently.<\/span><\/p>\n

New Year, New Team<\/b><\/strong><\/h3>\n

While the Nets aren’t the most formidable foes, starting the new year with a dominant win is exactly what the Raptors needed. Hopefully, Barrett will be back soon to show off how much better he looks alongside a starting PG and how good the Raptors core is. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Toronto Raptors have played this season predominantly without a starting-caliber point guard, leaving the primary ball-handling duties in the hands of Scottie Barnes and RJ Barrett. While Barnes and Barrett have stretched themselves to meet their responsibilities, it has taken a toll. Before last night, the Raptors averaged 17.4 turnovers on their 11-game slide, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5210,"featured_media":115674,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,62,14],"tags":[3178,1964,3852],"class_list":["post-115662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-nba","category-raptors","tag-immanuel-quickley","tag-rj-barrett","tag-scottie-barnes"],"modified_by":"Kayla Fonte","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5210"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115662"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115662\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":115677,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115662\/revisions\/115677"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}