Despite a good attempt by the Toronto Raptors to defeat the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday, some on-court conflict between veteran Thaddeus Young and sophomore Scottie Barnes during the halftime warmups at Scotiabank Arena raised questions.

 

Christian Koloko and Juancho Hernangomez, teammates, tried to diffuse the situation as Young and Barnes argued for more than 30 seconds. The cause of the argument between the two forwards is unknown.

 

After the game, Barnes said that the two had reconciled and were on good terms while the other players played off the incident. Young agreed, saying they had both conveyed their gratitude to the other.

 

Young told reporters, “We argued. “It’s no different than brothers arguing back and forth, especially since we’re both enthusiastic about the game,” she said. “He genuinely told me he loved me, and I told him I love him back.”

 

The 21-year-old Barnes scored 22 points and grabbed nine rebounds, so it doesn’t appear like the brief altercation affected his performance. The current NBA Rookie of the Year added four assists, two blocks, and three steals to his box score. The fact that he delivered an excellent first half, which has been a problem for him this season, made the performance very encouraging.

 

On Sunday, Young came off the bench and contributed four points and six rebounds in more than nine minutes. With 27 points, Pascal Siakam was the Raptors’ top scorer.

 

Toronto ended a three-game losing run with the win, but it still has a long way to go before rejoining the playoff race. The Raptors’ record of 17–23 places them in 12th place in the Eastern Conference. They are only 5.5 games behind the Indiana Pacers for the coveted sixth place but are only 1.5 games out of a play-in spot.