The Toronto Raptors return home.

On Friday, the Raptors closed a six-game road trip with a 114-97 loss to the Indiana Pacers. The Raptors went 2-4 on the road trip, losing to the Portland Trail Blazers, Utah Jazz, Golden State Warriors and Indiana Pacers while securing wins over the Sacramento Kings and Memphis Grizzlies.

As the Raptors return to Toronto for a seven-game homestand, here are a few things we learned from their recent streak.

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Defense needs work

At the start of the season, I wrote about the legitimacy of the Toronto defense.

Turns out it’s not as good as it first appeared.

Ahead of the road trip, the Raptors placed 16th in defensive efficiency allowing 107.6 points per 100 possessions. Prior to their clash with the Pacers to end the road trip, the Raptors had fallen to 24th in defensive efficiency, giving up 110.0 points per 100 possessions.

Granted, the Raptors have played against some of the best offensive teams in the league during that streak – the Jazz, Warriors and Trail Blazers rank first, second, and third respectively in offensive efficiency at the time of writing – but it there are some things that they’ve been struggling with lately. As Sportsnet’s Blake Murphy detailed, they struggled to close possessions, they give up a ton of 3 corners, and teams score against them around the basket quite easily.

Having everyone at full power will obviously help, but it’s clear there’s a lot more work to be done on this side of the pitch.

– Scott Rafferty (@crabdribbles)

Gary Trent Jr. has found his rhythm

Trent has had a pretty eventful offensive start this season, but he’s had a solid road trip himself.

Against the Jazz, Trent scored 31 points, a season-high, on an effective 12-for-18 shot from the field.

31 for Gary Trent Jr. on 12/18 shoot and 5/11 downtown pic.twitter.com/qeKvcCjPaC

– NBA Fantasy (@NBAFantasy) November 19, 2021

He went on to score 23 points in Toronto’s victory over Sacramento the next day.

It’s an INSTANT bucket @gtrentjr pic.twitter.com/Pm3gGaA9k1

– Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) 20 November 2021

Trent then finished with a team-high 26 points in Toronto’s victory over Memphis.

Traveling bucket shutter @gtrentjr

26 points | 4 3 p.m. | 4 pic.twitter.com/3RFUqQI4vK

– Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) 25 November 2021

The punch Trent provided was much needed given the Raptors lost OG Anunoby, who leads the team to score this season with 20.1 points per game, to a hip injury following their loss. against the Trail Blazers. Now let’s see if he can continue.

– Rafferty

Pascal Siakam gets in shape

Siakam returned from shoulder surgery in the offseason just before the Raptors’ road swing, rocking the rust in his first two games before looking like his former All-Star in his third game. return. Siakam had 25 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists against the Detroit Pistons, giving Toronto hope their starting forward was back to 100%.

When the road trip began, Siakam enjoyed a solid first game against the Portland Trail Blazers before declining to his worst game of the season so far, scoring just four points on a 2-on-14 shot on the field against the Utah Jazz.

This was when it became clear that Siakam would go through some ups and downs before consistently playing like him, but he has responded well since then, appearing to be getting back into shape.

Most notably, he had 32 points, eight rebounds and eight assists in a victory over the Sacramento Kings, a monster rebound for his best game of the season.

Another classic dressing game@ pskills43: 32 Pts – 8 Reb – 83 FG% pic.twitter.com/elggmLLKKV

– Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) 20 November 2021

More importantly, Siakam begins to look like she’s being lodged on the floor. His energy is on, his grip slowly returning, he finds his shot and finishing touches and he’s back to some tough defensive duties, which is even more important with OG Anunoby still on the sidelines with an injury to the back. hip.

Patience is key as Siakam tries to find his rhythm, but the 27-year-old is heading in the right direction as the Raptors return home to Toronto.

– Kyle Irving (@KyleIrv_)

Whether he scores or not, Scottie Barnes will make an impact

Barnes had a surprisingly scorching start as an NBA scorer, averaging 18.1 points while shooting 55.1% from the field in his first seven games, including three 20-point outings.

In his next 10 games, he only had one 20-point game and his efficiency plummeted, shooting 43.2% from the field.

On that road trip, in particular, Barnes returns to earth as a goalscorer, averaging just 11.4 points while shooting 39.7 percent from the field. How worried should Raptors fans be? In my opinion, not very worried at all.

The rookie forward has always found ways to make an impact even when he’s not scoring, which was the expectation for his first season in the first place.

During that road trip, Barnes recorded six or more rebounds in every game, averaging 8.6 during that span. He’s starting to show off his playmaking ability that had so excited scouts and talent assessors ahead of the draft, registering five or more assists in three of the five road trip games. Barnes has also always been a vital cog in Toronto’s defense, with his versatility allowing head coach Nick Nurse to use him on a number of different match missions.

Barnes’ scoring was always meant to be a work in progress, he’s just off to a much better start than anyone might have expected. As long as he’s still affecting other areas of the game like defense, rebounds and passing, he’s doing his job for this Raptors team.

– Irving

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