Darko Rajakovic condemns team response to Murray-Shead scuffle

In the closing moments of the Toronto Raptors’ Wednesday, March 11th matchup with the New Orleans Pelicans, Dejounte Murray stood over and yelled in the face of a grounded Jamal Shead. This resulted in a viral photo and moment, that was seemingly as big of a deal as the loss itself. During today’s medium scrum, Toronto Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic addressed this scuffle.

“I thought that we did not handle that situation the way we want, the way we were supposed to… Players know that’s not the true image and picture of our team, and it’s never gonna happen again,” said Rajakovic before Toronto’s game against the Phoenix Suns.

It is one thing for fan and media to have a take on this situation, but for the head coach to publicly say that the players should have reacted differently is something that should reverberate throughout the team.

When asked what he would have liked the team to do differently, Rajakovic stated, “there is a way to stand up for each other and protect each other, this team that we have is all about that, and connectivity, and it needs to be addressed the right way.”

The team has a chance to improve the narrative on their toughness tonight against the Phoenix Suns, and the rest of the season as well. It remains to be seen how the team will react to the next scuffle that one of their teammates is involved in, but the hope is that they take heed to their coaches words.

From Raptors Republic’s coverage of the Pelicans game:

At least the Raptors surprised us against the Pelicans? We know they are going to lose to better teams. Perhaps they’ll lose to worse teams, too? It’s hard to blame a single Raptor. None played well enough.

The Raptors are now positioned to try to reach the playoffs through the play-in tournament. They are falling in the standings. They have also been, compared to most other teams, quite healthy, so it’s not like they have an enormous influx of talent waiting on the horizon. Their schedule remains dastardly going forward. Things look bleak.

Murray hit a dagger over Shead after crossing him to the ground, then walked over and screamed in his face. Quickley walked over to say something calmly, but in truth no Raptor bothered to defend one of the team’s off-court leaders.

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The post Darko Rajakovic condemns team response to Murray-Shead scuffle first appeared on Raptors Republic.