Barnes: ‘That Sh*t Don’t Matter’

When Scottie Barnes was asked about what it means to be the underdogs, going into the Cleveland series, he pretended to be a luddite who doesn’t go online.

He shrugged his shoulders as if he wasn’t aware of the noise, and failed to hide his cheeky smile.

“That shit don’t matter,” he said after trying to hide it.

After the Raptors’ last regular season game, he had a similarly simple answer when asked what Cleveland should be ready for. “Just be ready for the physicality,” he said. “Gotta love this shit. This shit fun.”

After the Raptors exceeded all expectations and face none of it going into Cleveland, they’re in an advantageous position.

Head coach Darko Rajakovic echoed what Barnes said. The only opinions that matter are those in the Raptors’ “circle of trust,” and Rajakovic said, with smugness, “We’re gonna block all the outside noise and focus on us.”

“I think that we were one of the teams that played the hardest in the regular season,” he said. It’s a similar observation Windy made about the Raptors too.

The regular season allowed him to see what worked and what didn’t – and now in his first playoff series as head coach, Rajakovic has all the advantage to test different lineups against the favourites.

This shit will, indeed, be fun.

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