Raptors Takeaways: Contributions from the entire lineup led to the first road win

Hey, it took them eleven tries, but the Toronto Raptors finally won on the road.

It came down to a blowout, 119-93 against the New Orleans Pelicans, which made it even better as the Raptors, for once, didn’t have to endure a close game. The Raptors are now 5-14 on the season and 1-10 on the road as they travel to Miami to complete their four-game road trip before finally putting together a good run at home starting next week.

It was a career highlight for Battle, who continues to impress since securing a two-way contract after training camp. He shot 6 of 8 from three and was 9 of 11 from the floor overall, while Agbaji was 9 of 10 from the field.

RJ Barrett had 22 points and 11 assists, while Scottie Barnes had 17 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists to complement a 7-of-23 shooting night. With Gradey Dick (calf) out, rookie Ja’Kobe Walter more than held his own in his first NBA start and contributed a double-double.

The Raptors shot 49 percent from the floor and 40 percent from three-pointers (more on that below), while the injury-plagued Pelicans held a shooting percentage of 38.7 percent, falling to 4-15 on the year. The Raptors started slowly, leading 21-20 after the first quarter, but overwhelmed New Orleans in the second and third quarters and had a 24-point lead early in the fourth quarter.

Where did that come from?

The NBA’s three-point frenzy this season seemed to have left the Raptors in the slow lane. The Boston Celtics are on pace to set a new NBA record for attempts as they are averaging 50.2 three-pointers per game, which would go beyond the 45.4 three-pointers per game that the Houston Rockets made on the season achieved in 2018/19, the previous league mark.

The Houston Rockets and James Harden became the first team to make more than 40 three-pointers per game in 2016-17. So quaint. So far this season, there are nine teams averaging 40 or more three-pointers.

The Raptors are not one of them. They came into Wednesday’s game averaging just 31.2 attempts per game, which was last in the league. However, it is the same number as the Golden State Warriors in their record 73-9 season in 2015-16, which led the NBA at the time.

The game obviously changes quickly and the Raptors struggled to keep up. They made up for it significantly against the Pelicans, as Toronto made 52 attempts from beyond the arc – their previous season high was 39, which they scored twice. What made it all look so good is that the Raptors knocked down 21 of their triples and had 38 assists, a season high and a season tie, respectively. It took a while for Toronto to get going from deep – the team was just 4 of 17 from deep in the first quarter – but Battle hit both attempts in the second quarter when the Raptors went 8 of 12 as a group Toronto was on the way to the races.

Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic didn’t mince his words when Agbaji was a no-show against the Detroit Pistons on Monday, going 4-0 and grabbing just one rebound in 24 ineffective minutes at the horn in the Raptors’ loss.

“He just has to get better,” Rajakovic said on Monday. “He needs to try harder…. If you spend (24) minutes on the court and end the game with one rebound, that’s not good enough.”

Agbaji has been one of the bright spots so far this season, putting up one impressive performance after another even as the Raptors have struggled, but things have been quiet lately – the Pistons game was the athletic winger’s second single-rebound game in his previous three games.

He was immediately in action against the Pelicans. It was an Agbaji flurry that gave the Raptors their first sign of life when he hit a three-pointer after a handoff from Barnes, made a spectacular block at the other end and then went to the ground, setting up Barrett for a three-pointer that put the Raptors up 18 increased -12.

He went on a 14-0 run in the second quarter that turned a six-point deficit into an eight-point lead when Agbaji hit three corner triples – his specialty – made a steal and ran it the other way for one Lay converted The course of the game changed within two minutes. And for good measure, Agbaji knocked down two more triples as the Raptors took on the Pelicans in the third quarter.

He completed 6 of 7 from deep, the six making the tie a career high. Oh, and he had six rebounds. Agbaji came to New Orleans and shot 42.2 percent from three, the best shooting percentage of his career. He shot 46.2 percent in the Big Easy.

First start for Ja’Kobe Walter

With Dick unavailable and a starting spot open, the Raptors decided to move their first-round pick from last summer to the vacant spot. The move both gave Walter the advantage of playing with the Raptors’ starting players and allowed Rajakovic to keep his second unit – which has been giving him positive minutes of late – mostly intact.

After missing all of training camp and all but four games this season due to a shoulder sprain, Walter was left behind as the Raptors began their four-game road trip so he could get some game reps in Raptors 905 in the G-League.

The two starts were good for him as Walter made a good impression for the most part. He hit a three-pointer on the Raptors’ first possession and made a nice defensive stop on the Pelicans’ Dejounte Murray on the other end. He fumbled the ball and tried to do a pick-and-roll with Jakob Pöltl, but stole the ball right back and played a nice pass to Agbaji, who let him score.

He completed an incredible reverse layup while being fouled on a no-look pass from Barnes in the second quarter, and also made a beautiful inside pass to Poeltl that didn’t end up as an assist as the big man didn’t. I couldn’t handle it, but it was a nice recognition.

Overall, 14 points, 11 rebounds and five assists is an impressive night’s work for any rookie. He was 2 of 10 from three, but that doesn’t matter at this point, there are plenty of positives for the rookie out of Baylor.

The Raptors saw Zion Williamson at his best. Two seasons ago, the Pelicans star decimated a Toronto team that had no option to guard the 6-foot-1, 285-pound cannonball. He went past them, through them and over them, scoring 33 points, 10 rebounds, five assists, four steals and two blocked shots. This was a stunning victory for the Pelicans that came at the low point of what ended up being a disappointing 2022-23 season.

The Raptors didn’t have to worry about Williamson being down Wednesday night. As was often the case in his six seasons, he was injured (hamstring) and was unable to play.

It’s about to become a minor basketball tragedy. The former Duke star – where he was a teammate of Barrett – was the first overall pick in the 2019 draft and looked like a potential Hall-ofer with career averages of 24.6 points, 6.6 rebounds and 4.2 assists at 58.7 -Famer when he played percent shooting. But he has played in only 190 of a possible 409 games in his career, not including the 10 playoff games he missed. Barrett, who finished third in 2019, played in his 345th^Th Game Wednesday night.

Given that his hamstring issues appear to be long-standing at this point – he had to leave the Pelicans’ play-in game last April with a hamstring injury, missed three weeks earlier this season with the same issues and has only played six games this season. Add in his history of weight issues and a missed season due to foot surgery, and it’s not hard to see Williamson’s career shaping up to be one of the NBA’s biggest “what ifs.”

It will be fascinating to see how the Pelicans handle Williamson going forward. Theoretically, the Pelicans still owe him $126.3 million over the next three seasons after this season, but given Williamson’s injury history, there were some important protections built into the deal. Theoretically, the Pelicans can now waive Williamson and opt out of the deal entirely.

According to a report in The athleteIf he’s on the roster by Jan. 7, only $7.8 million of his future earnings are guaranteed. He can secure an additional 20 percent of his salary next season if he successfully weighs in six times this season and his combined weight and body fat percentage are 295 or less, and an additional 20 percent of his salary next year if he plays 41 games ; 20 percent more if he plays 51; and the last 20 percent if he plays 61.

It’s a highly unusual contract by NBA standards, with contracts – certainly long-term contracts involving franchise stars – generally guaranteed at signing. Maybe it’s a coincidence, but last week it was reported that the Pelicans star fired his agent. Regardless, there is speculation that if Williamson fails to bounce back this season, the Pelicans could simply move on from one of the most dynamic talents to enter the NBA this decade.