Raptors vs. Magic: The best of Scottie Barnes isn’t enough in NBA Cup opener - Toronto Star

Barnes' career-high scoring night was erased by season-worst D at Scotiabank Arena on Friday.

Raptor Scottie Barnes, shooting over Alex Morales of the Magic, finished 19 for 34 from the field in Friday night’s game at Scotiabank Arena.

The most productive offensive game of Scottie Barnes’ career couldn’t make up for his team’s worst defensive game this season.

Despite a career-high 41 points from Barnes and a late fourth-quarter flourish, the Raptors were undone by some lax defence and dropped a 121-114 Emirates NBA Cup game to the Orlando Magic at Scotiabank Arena on Friday night.

Barnes was sublime at times. He unleashed a barrage of mid-range shots that were unstoppable, especially in the fourth quarter when the Raptors tried in vain to come back.

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Every time they got close — and even after they took a lead with about four minutes left — the Raptors committed a defensive mistake or the Magic hit a three-pointer to settle the game down.

Orlando, with 18 made three-pointers, got 28 points from Desmond Bane and 26 from Franz Wagner to avenge a 30-point loss to the Raptors on Wednesday night.

It was the first of four NBA Cup games for the Raptors, with Detroit, Milwaukee and Brooklyn to come over the next month.

There did seem to be a bit of an edge to the game that made it stand out from a run-of-the-mill outing in the second week of the regular season. Whether it was simply the NBA Cup angle or it being the second game in three nights between rivals might be debatable, but there was a first-half shoving incident between RJ Barrett and Orlando’s Bane as well as double fouls called on Jakob Poeltl and Orlando’s Wendell Carter Jr. for a fourth-quarter elbowing contest.

It wasn’t playoff intensity, but it was higher than most regular-season games.

“You’re talking about world-class competitors,” Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic said before the game. “The NBA is an extremely competitive place for players and coaches. This is the best of the best in the world, and I think any time when you have more incentives to compete for something, for the title or the Cup, I think it brings even more juice out of the players.

“It’s very cool to see how the court looks out there. There is different ambience. We know you’re going to play every possession and every possession is important, and the (point) differential at the end of the game is important.”

The game ended the first of three two-game series the Raptors will play this season, and it played out to script. The Magic were more aggressive than when Toronto beat them Wednesday night, and did a far better job of taking care of the ball early in the game. They had only six turnovers in the first half against a Toronto team that leads the NBA in turnovers created and forced 20 against Orlando two days earlier. That allowed Orlando to take a 64-55 lead at halftime.

The Magic played harder than Raptors from the opening, which Rajakovic had feared.

“Obviously you win a game and human nature is to feel good about things, and when you lose you have to react,” he said. “I learned this from (former San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich, a Rajakovic mentor) who was always saying that every team is going to react to losing a game (but) only great teams react after winning a game.

“We’re in that mode where we’ve got to react after winning.”

The Raptors did get a resurgent night from Poeltl. He overcame early foul trouble for the second game in a row and posted his first double-double of the season with 12 points and 11 rebounds, by far his most productive game.

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Doug Smith is a sports reporter based in Toronto. Follow him on BlueSky: @smithraptorsbeat.bsky.social.