What Scottie Barnes was thinking during LeBron ball-toss incident

"I saw him loading up and I just thought, 'Oh man.' That's why I really just tried to cover myself so it didn't hit me in the face. He put a lot of power into it, cocked it back, threw it. I was like, damn." Follow our Raptors coverage all season long on Yahoo Sports Canada.

Video Transcript

SCOTTIE BARNES: We've just seen him a lot, how he dominated the league. And, of course, as I said, as a young player coming in, it's always like I came here to play more simple, I would say. I would say it was, with the game like they were playing recently, he did what he needed to do.

- I mean, when you play somebody like Zach and the team, obviously, it's a big part of your crowd [INAUDIBLE] do you have to talk yourself into being more aggressive in throwing at them, or do you possibly have another day at some point?

SCOTTIE BARNES: Oh, I just went out there, and it's just trying to win. It's just playing hard, try and help my team in any way possible.

- What part this week, Lakers talked about your offensive game. You described it as herky jerky, a little bit different, lefty, righty, six feet, 10 feet. How much you work on all those different shots?

SCOTTIE BARNES: Really, every single day, really. I work on Sunday, come in the gym, work on my touchdowns, left hand, right hand, shoot, shoot, get a couple going off the dribble. So really every day I come in to the gym, I really just work on and try to prepare for what I do in the game.

- When you're backing a guy down like that, are you deciding early which move you're going to go to, or do you see-- you read the play as it develops?

SCOTTIE BARNES: I'm taking what the defense is giving me. They cut me off, just keep countering, go in different ways.

- Where would you rank that first quarter in terms of just, like, a sustained 11, 12 minute stretch so far in your NBA career?

SCOTTIE BARNES: I come out of the game a lot whether it's in the first quarter, or the rest of our. The shot and run, I get those easy baskets, really. I wouldn't rank it anything, really. If it's came out that I was being aggressive, but just trying to get to my spots, really.

- OK. Go ahead, Justine.

- Thanks, JQ. I'm going to start with Adam.

- Hey, Scottie. You had that one moment with LeBron where he appeared to be going out of bounds and then threw the ball back towards you. Sort of, what was your reaction to that?

SCOTTIE BARNES: I was on the floor, he pushed me on the floor, and I just saw him loading up. And I just thought, oh, man. So I just tried to maybe just cover myself so he didn't hit me in the face, because he put a lot of power into it, caught it back, threw it. I was scared.

- And why do you think-- it seemed like you didn't really have too much retaliation. Why was it important for you to just kind of shake that off?

SCOTTIE BARNES: Really, I'm just really involved into the game, really. I wasn't really worried about it after. It was just in the heat of the moment. So I wasn't really worried about it.

- All right. Thank you.

- And next we'll go to Oren.

- Hey, Scottie. You've talked in the past about why winning the Rookie of the Year Award would be meaningful to you. This is, obviously, the time of year when people start to talk about those things. So I don't know if you wanted to, but if you had to make the case why you are the Rookie of the Year, how would you make that case?

SCOTTIE BARNES: Just doing my thing, playing hard, playing basketball, doing what I got to do. I'm not really worried about anybody else. I'm trying to help my team win, our team win, really.

- All right, thank you.

- And the last one here, Scottie. Go ahead, Christos.

- Hey, Scottie. Congratulations on the win, the performance, as well. How you enjoy to play games like these against teams like the Lakers? How help you to maximize your effort on the floor?

SCOTTIE BARNES: Say that again.

- How you enjoy to play games like these against teams like the Lakers? And how important is it to maximize your effort on those games?

SCOTTIE BARNES: One more time.

- How enjoy to play games like these against the Lakers?

SCOTTIE BARNES: To play games like this?

- Yes.

SCOTTIE BARNES: Of course, it's a big game coming into this arena, playing in front of these fans, the crowd. A legendary basketball team, really. So it's just coming in, just locking in, and really just trying to stick to the game plan, and just really just trying to keep pushing. Every possession matters at this point. Just keep it rolling for us, really.

- And for you, if you look back from the beginning of the season until now, how better player do you feel, overall?

SCOTTIE BARNES: Say the last part again.

- How better player you feel overall?

SCOTTIE BARNES: I'd say I got better throughout the season. I'm using my left hand more. I'm just still getting more comfortable and more comfortable each and every game. Really, that's what I would say.

- Thank you very much.