Tag: Darko Rajaković

Fans ripped Scottie Barnes for leaving the floor early after Victor Wembanyama dominated Toronto

Barnes is an All-Star but this was a tough look.

Victor Wembanyama was stunning in a dominant win by the San Antonio Spurs over the Toronto Raptors.

The rookie had a historic stat line against the Raptors as the Spurs won, 122-99, on the road in Toronto. It was arguably the best game of Wembanyama’s NBA career thus far. He became one of the only players in league history to ever record 25 points, 10 rebounds, 10 blocks, and five assists in a game.

Meanwhile, despite recently making the NBA All-Star Game as one of the injury replacements in the Eastern Conference, this was also one of the worst performances of the season for Toronto’s Scottie Barnes.

The former Rookie of the Year winner was 3-for-15 (20.0 percent) from the field, which marked the worst shooting percentage of his 2023-24 campaign to date. He had three shots blocked by Wembanyama.

It wasn’t just Wembanyama who made Barnes have a difficult night, though. San Antonio’s Jeremy Sochan did an outstanding job as the primary defender against Barnes during the victory.

Before the game was officially over and while his teammates were still on the court, Barnes made his way back to the locker room.

After the game, Raptors coach Darko Rajaković said that this was “not the standard” that the organization expects to see from Barnes (via TheStar.com):

“It is definitely a learning opportunity for all the players on the team,” he said at the post-game news conference. “From young guys to all the vets. And this is not the performance that we want to have, the competitive spirit that we want to have.”

Here is what some of the fans thought about Barnes’ decision:

6 incidents that had NBA coaches fuming over referees this season, including Steve Kerr’s Nuggets rant

NBA coaches seem a lot angrier than usual with referees this year.

The NBA has an officiating problem. That is, at least, if you listen to many of the head coaches around the association this season.

In a year that should be defined by stories like the Denver Nuggets’ pursuit of back-to-back championships, the rise of the young Oklahoma City Thunder, and Joel Embiid’s title pursuit with the Philadelphia 76ers, it feels like there’s a coach raging about skewed officiating seemingly every other night. Unfortunately, such a saga will often take precedence over more compelling on-court stories about some of the league’s better teams and brighter stars.

We’re over halfway into this NBA regular season, and we’ve already got more than a few doozies where coaches publicly ripped referees. Let’s take a look at some of the more high-profile incidents (so far).

The Raptors paid tribute to Dejan Milojevic on this scoring play designed by the late coach

This was a beautiful tribute to the late Warriors assistant coach.

The NBA world mourned the loss of Warriors assistant coach Dejan Milojevic, who died unexpectedly on Wednesday morning.

Even though Golden State’s game scheduled against Utah was postponed because of the tragedy, the rest of the league had to continue with their games despite playing with a heavy heart.

Milojevic was on the minds of many across the NBA, including Toronto Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic. He said he had known Milojevic since they were teenagers as they are both from Serbia.

After the game, Rajakovic told reporters that he ran a play as a tribute to Milojevic.

“Opening play in the game was [an] ATO that Deki, my friend, I learned that play from him. It’s what he brought to [the] NBA and it’s what he brought to Golden State. I stole that play from him and that was our opening play tonight and we were able to score on it once. I dedicated this team win to our team and to Deki.”

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski confirmed that the set was the opening play of the game.

As noted by Samson Folk, Toronto’s Scottie Barnes was double-teamed on the first possession of the game. So while it was technically not the first play of the game, it was the first “scripted” play of the game.

To make a good tribute an even more beautiful one: The Raptors were still able to score as Gary Trent Jr. hit a 3-pointer, which meant a lot to everyone involved:

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Furious Raptors coach Darko Rajaković goes off on a wild rant on referees after ‘BS’ loss to Lakers

He was SO mad.

Whew. Tell them how you really feel, Darko Rajakovic.

The Toronto Raptors head coach was so mad at NBA referees after the Los Angeles Lakers bested them 132-131 on Tuesday night. Why?

Because he saw the Lakers get so many free throw opportunities (36 to a scant 13 for the Raps), and not enough calls for his team — in the fourth, he said it was a 23 to two free-throw advantage —  specifically Scottie Barnes who the coach noted went to the hoop a ton.

“This is completely BS,” he yelled furiously to reporters. “This is a shame. Shame for the referees, shame for the league to allow this.”

Then, he added: “They had to win tonight? If that’s the case, just let us know so we don’t show up for the game.”

Yep. He’ll be hearing from the league office, no doubt:

Watch: Raptors head coach whines about officiating after loss to Lakers

Raptors head coach Darko Rajaković was absolutely livid about the free throw disparity in his team’s 132-131 loss to the Lakers on Tuesday.

The Los Angeles Lakers may be inching back toward winning basketball after putting together back-to-back wins. They scratched out a win on Sunday against a Los Angeles Clippers team that had been red hot, and on Tuesday, they survived a fierce battle against the Toronto Raptors.

The Lakers defeated Toronto in large part because they went to the free-throw line quite often. They went 28-of-36 from the charity stripe while Toronto was 8-of-13 in that category. The disparity in free throws was especially pronounced in the fourth quarter when L.A. was 19-of-23 on foul shots while the Raptors had two such attempts.

After his team lost, 132-131, to the Purple and Gold, Raptors head coach Darko Rajaković was livid about what he perceived as biased officiating.

While it is understandable he was livid, whether the Lakers deserved so many more free throws or not, he made one hyperbolic statement when he said Scottie Barnes is “going to be the face of” the NBA.

Memo to Rajaković: While Barnes is a very good player (he had 26 points and six assists on Tuesday), he isn’t quite on that level.

4 things to know about new Toronto Raptors head coach Darko Rajaković

Get to know the new head coach of the Raptors

The Toronto Raptors have found their new new head coach, naming Darko Rajaković to the job on Saturday, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

After interviewing J.J. Redick — and with a list of eligible names including Kenny Atkinson and Mike Budenholzer — the Raps settled on the 44-year-old native of Serbia who was most recently an assistant with the Memphis Grizzlies.

So if you haven’t been following the Grizzlies, or Rajaković’s career in general, we’ve compiled a list of four things to know about the knew head coach in Toronto to get you up to speed.

Here’s a quick rundown on the coach who filled the last remaining vacancy in the NBA.