Raptors’ Rajakovic pushing right buttons, earning trust
TORONTO — When Darko Rajakovic took the stage to address the media after Game 4, it wasn’t immediately evident that he had just coached the Toronto Raptors to an improbable win.
Nor was it obvious that a couple of minutes earlier, the bench boss had let out a scream so primal as he exited the court — before swiftly collecting himself — that it likely would’ve been heard from the Scotiabank Arena rafters had the crowd not been simultaneously roaring after evening the series against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Instead, Rajakovic was cucumber-cool as he responded to questions. He even joked between answers, highlighted by his continued infatuation with the dulcet tones of Jamal Collier’s voice as he first noted after Game 3.
He projected the stoicism of a coach who’s been there and done that, even though Rajakovic is indeed helming a playoff team for the first time. So, how has the third-year bench boss already developed that level of composure?
Well, in his mind, he doesn’t “feel that I’m a rookie in this situation at all.”
“I was a head coach in Europe for a long time,” Rajakovic explained. “And my first assistant coaching job was when I became an assistant with the OKC Thunder, and that was after being a head coach for 15-16 years … I continued always to think as a head coach. What I would do in this situation, what the head coach needs over here, how can I help him, and that’s the way I always operated.”
Admirable in theory, but undoubtedly difficult in practice.
It’s no secret that the rigours of post-season basketball can trump even the most seasoned of NBA coaches, let alone a bench boss with zero playoff games under his belt before this year. But Rajakovic — since his Raptors were undeniably punked in Game 1 of the series — has checked almost every correct box, and not been shy in making changes.
And not to steal someone else’s words, but with how effectively the bench boss has made adjustments on the fly since then, it’s as if he’s had the answers to the test all along and was waiting to see the questions first.
As a result, Toronto has steadily dissipated Cleveland’s strengths. Like bringing down their rim frequency of 35.8 per cent through Games 1 and 2 (for an average of 52 paint points), to 26.9 per cent (for 39 paint points) in Games 3 and 4.
Doing so primarily by squashing the impact of the Cavaliers’ lead ball-handlers, James Harden and Donovan Mitchell. It started with shifting matchups (i.e., Scottie Barnes on Harden), lower pick-up points and packing the paint, and has since included aggressive switching tactics (you’ve probably heard switch-to-blitz), more gap help and top-locking of the star guards.
All of which was to accomplish a couple of goals:
• Shift the advantage-creation onus from Harden to Mitchell
• Dare the other Cavs — namely Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen — to make plays
• Speed up Cleveland’s offence and dictate the pace of play
It’s maybe in accomplishing that last objective — a byproduct of checking the first two boxes — that the Raptors have truly swung momentum in this series.
Game 1 and much of Game 2 were played on the Cavaliers’ terms: slow and steady. As a result, the Raptors spent an average of 82 per cent of their plays in the halfcourt, but have since dropped that to 75 per cent in the last two games. On the other side, Cleveland’s average time-to-shot through the first two games was the second-slowest in the NBA at 13.8 seconds, as Harden methodically carved up the Raptors. Through two games north of the border, the Cavs’ time-to-shot has been cut to 12.4 seconds, much to the preference of Rajakovic’s squad.
A faster game is a more chaotic game, and it’s under those circumstances that the Raptors have thrived — and previously established a top-five defence — and which the Cavaliers have, to this point, looked uncomfortable.
Part of that adjustment stemmed from Rajakovic’s benching of Jakob Poeltl in the second half of Game 2, and seeing how Collin Murray-Boyles could handle the burden of co-lynchpinning such an aggressive defensive scheme.
Although it didn’t win the battle initially, the decision uncovered a blueprint that may ultimately win Toronto the war. The rookie’s ascension has paired perfectly with Barnes as the duo has bullied Cleveland in back-to-back contests.
Speaking of (Jamison) Battle, how about Rajakovic tapping on the sharpshooter in the fourth quarter of Game 3, even after seven underwhelming minutes heading into the final frame? The coach’s instincts were proven correct as Battle caught fire and cemented himself as a Cavs killer.
One of multiple examples of personnel adjustments by Rajakovic throughout the series, like swapping Jamal Shead and Ja’Kobe Walter as the Raptors’ fifth starter in place of the injured Immanuel Quickley. Even after the switch worked well in Game 3, he wasn’t afraid to go back to the sophomore point guard down the stretch of Game 4 — a decision that opened the door for one of the headiest hustle plays we’ve seen in quite some time.
There’s also been Rajakovic’s handling of Poeltl and RJ Barrett defensively, toggling them between Allen and Mobley — who’ve done little to make either pay — to ameliorate their deficiencies as pick-and-roll defenders, and allow both to play more meaningful roles on that end of the floor.
And arguably the biggest challenge this series for Rajakovic has been finding ways to win with the Raptors’ leading scorer in the regular season, averaging 14.8 points on 33.9 per cent shooting in the playoffs. How he’d handle Brandon Ingram’s offensive output moving forward was a loud talking point after the all-star took nine shots in Game 1 and made sure to point it out. And while Rajakovic did give Ingram his fair share of looks early in Game 2, he’s rightfully moved away from force-feeding the languid shot-taker, and instead leaned more into his brand of 0.5 offence.
And in a roundabout way, that’s what this post-season run has been about. Affirming that the routines and practices the Serbian bench boss spent 82 games drilling into his team could be upheld on the big stage.
“Since Day 1 of the regular season, we’re trying to install habits that I believe can help us in the playoffs,” Rajakovic said last week.
And so far, they’ve held up because the head coach has too. Even after falling behind 2-0.
“It’s the chemistry (the team) is building year-round,” Rajakovic said. “In the off-season, in training camp, honest conversations we’re having with each other … it’s part of the journey, all of this is part of a bigger picture. And our guys staying together, through ups and downs, is something special for this team.”
Sunday’s Game 4 victory may have been the greatest example of the identity Rajakovic has established being able to survive a storm.
He often preaches a “zero-zero” mentality to his players, but it’s likely that even he never expected to coach a game that took the message so literally.
The Raptors won despite shooting 32 per cent from the field and going 4-of-30 from beyond the arc. A victory that wasn’t just unlikely, but historically so. His team became the first — out of 15 — in NBA playoff history to win a game despite shooting under 14 per cent from distance on more than 20 attempts. The Raptors were just the third team to make four or fewer triples on at least 30 attempts in the post-season, and the other two lost by an average of 26.5 points.
Heck, it was the worst shooting performance in a playoff win since the three-point line was invented!
And yet, it was a style of victory that the Raptors have been plenty familiar with this season. One that their head coach has prepared them for.
“All the stuff that we preach night in and night out, that came out to win the game tonight,” Rajakovic said. “We never, never flinch. We just continue guarding and guarding. And we did not shoot the ball (well), I told our guys at halftime it’s awesome … I was lying. I told them that we’re going to shoot better in the second half, but we did not. We’ll leave that for the next game.”
Again, finding a way to keep things light-hearted even in the midst of a dog-fight.
Yet, although he’s kept his vibe somewhat jovial with the media, Rajakovic’s most under-the-radar adjustment these playoffs might be the uber-measured approach he’s taken with his players — in contrast to the Serbian dad energy that came out pretty routinely during the regular season, like when the Raptors clinched their return to the playoffs with a win over the Brooklyn Nets in Game 82.
For instance, no one would’ve been surprised if Rajakovic broke through the doors after Game 3 and paraded around the Raptors locker room like a slepi miš out of hell, considering it was his first playoff win as a head coach and Toronto’s first post-season victory over Cleveland since May 2016 — snapping a 12-game skid.
Instead, his message was cool, calm and collected.
“Good win, (but) we did not do shit. We just won one game … this was a good game, it was not a perfect game. Everybody, we can play better than we did today, and that has to be our mentality going into the next game.”
Spoken like a coach who’s been in this situation many times before, even if he hasn’t.
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