How Raptors' Scottie Barnes dominated the 4th quarter vs. the Bulls

Amit Mann discusses the several ways in which Raptors forward Scottie Barnes put his stamp on the 4th quarter vs. the Bulls.

Video Transcript

AMIT MANN: The Toronto Raptors defeated the Chicago Bulls, 104-98, and were energized by a dynamic performance in the fourth quarter by Scottie Barnes, who showed off the plethora of ways in which he can impact winning. So let's look at all the highlights. Like and subscribe on YouTube, and let's begin.

All right, so it starts off with Scottie Barnes full steam ahead right at the inbounds to begin the fourth quarter. That's a tone setter. Scottie saying we're here. We're going to start getting aggressive because it's fourth quarter time. Afterwards, some hard-nosed defense on DeMar DeRozan. He doesn't dig, hands up. Forces a kick out, and that leads to a turnover. Then in transition, this off-ball block right here, it's like he switches hands in midair and pins it on the glass, and notice how Scottie is trailing the play.

This is something that he was doing against the Chicago Bulls. It's a nice little tactic to help him get some momentum going towards the basket to compromise the defense. And here he is finishing this layup. Beautiful celebration, sir. And then afterwards, another block, gathers again. Contests again, gathers a rebound, and now his own transition. He finds Pascal Siakam. Good stuff, Jeff Dowden, yes, that's some vision. More good defense on DeMar DeRozan.

OG Anunoby forces a charge after review. Nikola Vucevic, it's your turn now. He plays physical. He plays hard. He contests a shot. Vucevic, no chance. Then on offense, this 3-pointer that extends the lead to 9 points, then he attacks the offensive glass. Notice how he waits until Vucevic looks away from him, and then he heads to keep the play alive. Then this is where it gets really cool.

DeMar splits the defense, very smart play. Scottie Barnes with a second effort, huge block on him, and then they head the other way. Once again, Scottie is trailing, and a quick hit to Gary Trent Jr. He misses the shot, but Pascal Siakam is there for the offensive rebound. The Bulls do close the lead a little bit, and here's another good contest from Scottie Barnes. And after this, Pascal Siakam miss, there he is along with OG Anunoby to continue attacking the offensive boards.

Really like this play. Alex Caruso gets the ball around the nail, and Scottie doesn't overcommit. That allows Gary Trent Jr to recover, and the Raptors get the ball back. And to cap it off, after some free throws are made, the Raptors are surely going to win this game, and Scottie's like, let me get one more. And he gets the offensive rebound, a put-back dunk, beautiful stuff. 8 points, five rebounds, one assist and four blocks for Scottie Barnes in that fourth quarter.

If you didn't see it, CJ Miles and I on our show, "Strictly Hoops" talked to his trainer, Brian Macon, and it was a great conversation about Scottie's sophomore season, but one of the things that kept on coming up is how devoted Scottie is to winning. And we saw it in the fourth quarter. The Raptors we were a little bit sluggish, but in the fourth quarter, Scottie turned it on as we've seen him do on many occasions this season, and Nick Nurse after the game said that he felt that Scottie inspired his teammates. He literally did everything from guarding DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic in isolation, to offering weak side help and rim protecting, and then getting the Raptors out in transition and playmaking from there.

He was creating extra possessions. He was scoring the ball. He was hitting 3's. Scottie showed off how special he is, and there's plenty more to come. My name is Amit Mann. Follow me on Twitter @ Amit_Mann. We'll talk to you soon.