'That’s my go-to right there': Scottie Barnes on his look-back dunks in transition

Raptors forward Scottie Barnes discusses why he was able to dish out a career-high 12 assists vs. the Heat, his legendary look-back dunks in transition along with working off Pascal Siakam.

Video Transcript

[CHATTER]

- OK. Go ahead, everybody. Sorry.

- Scottie, Miami, obviously, plays a lot of zone. You found yourself, especially in the third quarter, in the middle of that making the reads. How different of a look is that for you like compared to the normal defenses you see? And what were you able to find?

SCOTTIE BARNES: Was just-- was able to run our sets and be able to execute out of them. People was in the right spots. And the reads were open every single time. So that's what we went to. It was just a simple read.

- In the beginning of the game, you were able to get your scoring going a bit more. What was-- what was going on there that allowed you to do that?

SCOTTIE BARNES: I would say just trying to go early with the early post ups, transition. So it was just me playing and things just coming to me.

- Your shooting efficiency and shot quality are higher over the course of the season when you're with-- playing with Siakam on the court. Why do you think that is?

SCOTTIE BARNES: He draws a lot of attention. Of course, he scores the ball really well. But he also has a high IQ to be able to pass out of the double teams when he sees them coming very early. So he draws a lot of attention, so it just creates for everybody else. So when it's two on the ball, it's four on three out there. So it's easier to score.

- You guys have a lot more size at the wings than most teams. Do you think that other teams are more susceptible to your offense playing a 3-2 zone instead of a 2-3 zone?

SCOTTIE BARNES: Say that again.

- Do you think that other teams are more susceptible to you guys if they play a 3-2 zone as opposed to the 2-3?

SCOTTIE BARNES: Yeah, I don't know. I don't know-- just out there playing. Hopefully, when we execute-- when we execute, things go well. Once we start getting a little messy, then things start to go bad. But once we're in the right spots and we're executing our plays, everything goes well.

- Scottie, you had a career-high in assists tonight. How important is it to you to be a playmaker on this team?

SCOTTIE BARNES: Every game is different. Teams play defense differently. Today, it was just-- I was finding reads, making plays. Like I said, everybody was in the right spots, and people was making shots. There was corner 3's, backdoors. They were double teaming out of the post so cutting. Everything just worked out well today.

- Nick says that when-- if you want to be a pass-first player, you got to score to open up the pass. He was just saying that. Did you feel that that changed in the defense? And do you feel that sort of when you are aggressive early, it opens up your passing later in the game?

SCOTTIE BARNES: I guess. Like I said, I was just playing the game. Whatever was coming towards me, I was just trying to make the right reads off of it. So when I saw them coming to double off the post, because the height advantage, I just made the right reads, passed it out. And, like I said, guys were open. People was cutting. Corners were open. People was making shots.

- How close do you keep track of the standings, with Miami coming in here in second place, just a few games out? Did you-- like is this-- were you aware of that? Were you--

SCOTTIE BARNES: We need every one. We need every game right now. It's going to be a close-- it's going to be close, but we need every game. And every game is very important for us. Yeah.

- You guys have had so much success at home, especially recently. Your next five, obviously, are on the road. How important is it that you sort of transfer some of that momentum that you built here and steal some of those [INAUDIBLE]?

SCOTTIE BARNES: Like I said, every game is important. We need every single one of these games to just put ourselves in better position. So we just got to keep going out and defending each and every single night, bring our own energy when we go to other places, when we're going away. So I feel like that's going to be really our carryover, just bringing that energy, being able to bring that for each and every single game, just try to get that win.

- You mentioned going early tonight. How much of that is like the game plan have going in-- the team game plan going in, matching up with what the opposition's actually doing versus like you just feeling it on a particular night?

SCOTTIE BARNES: We just go out there, make the-- we find it out. And then we see the match-ups. And we'll just go to it. Whatever is working, we'll keep going to that. Today, I just felt like I had a height advantage, and being able to just try to get deep seals, and being able to post up. It was, obviously, going to draw other people in. So everything's working that way so just finding those advantages and trying to take advantage of them.

- How much of that 40-inch vert did you use [INAUDIBLE]?

SCOTTIE BARNES: I don't know. You know, I had a-- I had a good lane. You know, it was--

- Up 40?

SCOTTIE BARNES: I don't think that was up 40. It was probably like 35. But--

[LAUGHTER]

You know what I'm saying?

- So it's two games in a row you've had a big dunk on the break. I'm curious. At what point on the break do you think about what you're going to do?

SCOTTIE BARNES: It depends on how close somebody is to me. If someone's close to me, then you just got to try to put the ball in the basket as fast as possible. And then if you're open, you know, things start going through your mind, what you want to do. So I would say that's all.

- So you just look back to figure out how close people are to you.

SCOTTIE BARNES: Yeah, that's my favorite. But that's my go-to right there, the look back.

- Thanks, everybody. Thank you.

SCOTTIE BARNES: Appreciate, y'all.