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<\/p>\nBarnes had more than 10 assists for a third consecutive game, a career high. It was also his career-best 27th double-double of the season, surpassing the 26 he had last campaign.<\/p>\n
\t<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter where I need to be on the floor, I\u2019m just going to try and do what I can to try and win the game,\u201d said Barnes. \u201cWhatever it is, starting point guard, guarding the five, playing point, playing forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
The two-time all star also had two steals and three blocks in 36:29 of playing time as Rajakovic rested all of his starters with a little over two minutes left to play.<\/p>\n
Rajakovic said that although the six-foot-eight Barnes\u2019s size makes him a forward, he\u2019s got a playmaker\u2019s instincts.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a pass-first player. He likes to move, to pass, he likes to find his teammates. He is exceptional in transition,\u201d said Rajakovic. \u201cWe were getting stops early in the game, and he was really pushing the ball in transition and all he does is scanning the floor. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt really allows him, with his size and his athletic ability, to play over the top of the defence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Second-year player Ja\u2019Kobe Walter started in Quickley\u2019s place. He was one of four Raptors who scored 18 points, and he doled out four assists with Barnes bearing the playmaking load.<\/p>\n
Both Barnes and Rajakovic had high praise for Walter\u2019s efforts.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis shooting is just something that we need on our team,\u201d said Barnes of Walter, who went 6-for-14 on field-goal attempts and 4-for-10 on three-pointers. \u201cHe\u2019s been on fire. Every shot he takes it looks like it\u2019s going in. <\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes we get in these situations where we\u2019re not making shots, but we can count on him to be able to play defence and make shots.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rajakovic said that Walter has been making an impact for the Raptors in two ways.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe did a really good job defensively, pressuring the ball. He really set a tone on (Pelicans guard) Jeremiah Fears tonight and he\u2019s shooting the ball really well,\u201d said Rajakovic. \u201cHe\u2019s good out there for us and the whole team trusts him. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe plays so hard so there is not much you can object to when he plays that hard.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rookie centre Collin Murray-Boyles left the game early with back spasms. He finished with nine points and two rebounds.<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 28, 2026.<\/p>\n
John Chidley-Hill, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Barnes had more than 10 assists for a third consecutive game, a career high. It was also his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":684031,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3770],"tags":[7,6,681,680,476,3820],"class_list":{"0":"post-684030","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-toronto-raptors","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-nba","10":"tag-raptors","11":"tag-toronto","12":"tag-toronto-raptors","13":"tag-torontoraptors"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116306755853684670","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=684030"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684030\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/684031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=684030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=684030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=684030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}