TORONTO – Does Scottie Barnes care about setting personal records or reaching milestones?
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Barnes → care → milestones
Well, it depends on the time of year.
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it → depend → year
Barnes scored a career-high 41 points and added five rebounds and five assists as the Toronto Raptors fell to the Orlando Magic 121-114 on Friday in their first NBA Cup game of the season.
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Raptors → score → season
Barnes said that in the immediate aftermath of the loss he didn’t particularly care about his new single-game points high.
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he → say → high
I think I’ve got to let some time go by.
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time → think → ?
I think that, for sure, before the season I think I wanted to break that,” said Barnes.
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Barnes → think → that
“But it’s just about trying to be aggressive.
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it → ’ → ?
I think I did a great job going downhill, being aggressive.”
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I → think → job
Part of Barnes’s frustration on the night was that despite making 34 field-goal attempts – many of them as he drove to the net – he only drew three free throws.
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he → make → throws
The Magic as a whole were awarded 29 free throws while Toronto had 15.
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Toronto → award → 15
“Definitely think I could have got to the free-throw line more,” said Barnes.
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Barnes → think → line
“I think being that aggressive, only shooting three free throws is kind of crazy.
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being → think → throws
“But no, it just wasn’t going our way.
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it → go → way
Barnes was asked directly if he thought it was harder for the Raptors to get fouled.
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Raptors → ask → ?
After a long pause, he answered with a chuckle.
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he → answer → chuckle
“Trying to have good P.R. today,” said Barnes, smiling at a nearby member of Toronto’s communications team.
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Barnes → try → team
“It’s tough out there.
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It → ’ → ?
Like I said, we’re trying to be as aggressive as we can.
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we → say → ?
I think they’re being aggressive as they can.
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they → think → ?
“I think that’s enough for me to say.
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me → think → ?
I’m raging on the inside right now, but it is what it is.”
Head coach Darko Rajakovic was willing to be more direct in his post-game news conference.
“For me, a player that gets three foul shots in a game, who scores 41 points and goes to the free-throw line three times, that’s kind of B.S., to be honest with you
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that → rag → you
,” said Rajakovic.
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Rajakovic → say → ?
“They got to the free-throw line 29 times.
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They → get → line
We got to the free-throw line 15 times, and I don’t think that we’re more physical or a more aggressive team than them.
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we → get → them
“I think that both teams played really aggressive, good basketball, and I think that criteria should be the same on both ends of the floor.
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criteria → think → floor
It was the 16th game of Barnes’s career where he had 30-plus points, five rebounds and five assists.
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he → have → points
That tied DeMar DeRozan for fourth most in Raptors’ history.
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That → tie → history
Starting centre Jakob Poeltl had by far his best game of the season.
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Poeltl → start → season
He entered play on Friday averaging 2.8 points, 4.5 rebounds and 0.5 assists per game, but finished with 12 points, 11 rebounds and three assists against Orlando.
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He → enter → Orlando
“To be honest, I don’t really care about the numbers,” sad Poeltl.
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Poeltl → care → numbers
“It doesn’t really matter to me if I at the end of game have 10 points, 10 rebounds, or if I have like two points and four rebounds, like whatever, as long as we’re winning the game.”
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we → matter → game
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 31, 2026.
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report → publish → Press
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