TORONTO — Process, process, process, process.
Yup, we get it. The Toronto Raptors don’t want to lose sight of how they have arrived at this unexpectedly joyous point. It is only a product, they believe, of a steady, monastic commitment to the little things that add up to big things.
It’s like the whole organization has read and memorized Atomic Habits, or Cut Wood, Carry Water, or falls asleep (early, and in a temperature-controlled room, of course) to wellness podcasts.
The other day, I asked Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic if his club’s surprising start to the season — this was a team Vegas oddsmakers pegged to win 39 or 40 games — might somehow change their internal goals or outlook.
He looked offended.
“Nothing changes with us,” he said. “We are serious people. We are not entering the season and changing our goals like the wind blows, it does not work like that. At this level, in this organization, we exactly know what we want. We exactly know that it’s about processing, getting our guys better and then focussing on the process. One game at a time, one possession at a time.”
That was two wins ago.
After the Raptors strapped themselves to Brandon Ingram’s first official Raptors heater — he scored a season-high 37 as Toronto pulled away from the short-handed Cleveland Cavaliers with a 110-99 win that extended their winning streak to eight games — I tried again.
Given his team has lost one game in November and won 12 of its past 13 — the longest stretch of success the Raptors have enjoyed since winning a franchise record 15 games in 2019-20 — does he enjoy it? Does his team, which was 4-14 through 18 games a year ago, get to enjoy it?
“There’s nothing to enjoy,” Rajakovic said. “There is the next game coming very, very quickly our way. You know, it’s good for confidence. It’s good for us to continue learning through those experiences, to figure out our chemistry… there is always work to do. … We enjoy each other, we enjoy the journey, and it’s the most important thing. And thank God we’re getting wins as well.”
But the joy is spreading, whether Rajakovic and his charges are aware of it or not.
The seats at Scotiabank Arena are filled sooner and the crowd stays later. The ‘defence’ chants are more full-throated. The Raptors have opted to have the crowd sing most of the Canadian anthem unaccompanied by the anthem singer. It was tentative early in the season, but seems to be gaining in momentum with each home win.
Winning is one of the great legal intoxicants ever created, and it’s been sorely missing around the Raptors since they last made the playoffs in 2021-22, Scottie Barnes‘ rookie season.
Now that the Raptors are handing out winning pills by the handful, you’d think that a team starving for some of the good stuff would get carried away with it, like kids at a high school bonfire.
You’d be wrong.
“I don’t think one person in the locker room has talked about the streak,” said Ingram, who speculated that the last time he was on a team that won 12-of-13 might have been when he was winning state titles for Kinston High School. It certainly wasn’t when he was trapped in basketball purgatory with the New Orleans Pelicans. “I don’t think Darko will let that creep into the locker room. We’re taking it by the day. Every day is an opportunity to get better. Just worry about the next opponent. Of course it’s a good feeling. We know we’ve got to continue to do it so we can keep it going.”
They did what was necessary against Cleveland. Both teams were playing on the second night of a back-to-back, but other than RJ Barrett missing the game with a sprained right knee, Toronto was healthy. The Cavaliers had an injured list that needed more than the fingers on one hand to count off.
There’s been a lot of that this month for the Raptors, with the schedule serving up weaker teams, or short-handed teams or teams on short rest. But rather than look at the opportunity sideways, the Raptors and their process have run the table.
The Raptors were never able to gain a lot of separation from the Cavs (12-7), but held the remote most of the night. The Cavs did cut Toronto’s lead to four with 4:37 left, but Ingram responded with a tough step-back three, and the Raptors got a steal. And when Jamal Shead made two of his three free throws after drawing a foul on a three-point attempt, and Toronto was back up by nine with 2:21 to play, they stayed the course from there.
They ran Ja’Kobe Walter (starting for RJ Barrett), Shead (nine points on three-of-four shooting and seven assists) and Ochai Agbaji in waves at Cavs star Donovan Mitchell, holding one of the NBA’s most prolific scorers to 17 points on 5-of-14 shooting, or 14 points below his season average.
They trusted Barnes to manage Evan Mobley, the Cavs’ other star, and he did his normally bang-up job, limiting Mobley to 14 points and winning the matchup against his 2021 draft class colleague.
“And then the fourth quarter when the game was on the line, Scottie just turns into this monster where he gets all the stops and deflections and rebounds and points,” said Rajakovic as Barnes finished with 18 points, 11 rebounds and six assists. “He did an outstanding job there for us.”
And then there was Ingram.
Did he expect to have a big night? Ingram said that with Barrett out, he knew someone would have to step up, and: “I didn’t do much of anything last night (he had 14 points on 6-of-18 shooting against Brooklyn), so it was finna time I do something.”
The Cavaliers elected to guard him in single coverage for most of the night, so the Raptors were happy to let the six-foot-eight bucket getter get to his spots, and he delivered over and over again, scoring on the kind of contested two-point attempts that are ill-advised for most NBA players, but he makes routinely.
“I think when he gets going like that, he’s proven it time and time again, you know, not just this year, but over his whole career, that once he gets going, give him the ball,” said Shead, who read the memo. “He’s not going to just shoot it every time; he’ll make the right play. But tonight, they didn’t go double. We didn’t have to go and play out of a swing-swing situation. He just got to score the ball. So I think that was really cool, that, you know, he had to have a night.”
And the Raptors are having a season. Whether they choose to enjoy it or not is on them. Everyone else doesn’t have to worry about the process, they can revel in the results.
Grange for three:
1. It’s going to be OK: There were some genuine concern about the nature of Barrett’s knee injury after he left Sunday night’s win over the Brooklyn Nets in the third quarter.
That he limped off favouring his right (plant) leg on a routine fastbreak dunk attempt had some in his circle fearing the worst. But after having medical imaging done and consulting with specialists Monday, everyone around the Raptors could breathe a sigh of relief. There was no structural damage, it was really just a mild sprain, and he was listed as day-to-day to return after sitting out Monday night against the Cleveland. “Looks very promising, very good,” said Rajakovic. My sense, as I made some inquiries, was that Barrett’s absence would be short-term, perhaps a week, with all involved much relieved
2. Not an MVP candidate, but: The very top of the MVP race in the NBA is ridiculous right now. If you’re not having a historic-level season, ideally on a championship contender, you need not apply. Does Cavs guard Donovan Mitchell qualify, given he arrived in Toronto averaging 30.8 points, 5.0 rebounds and 5.3 assists while shooting 51.5 per cent from the floor and 39.3 per cent from three. Mitchell, at the very least, has to have an inside track on being named first-team All-NBA for the second straight season.
“I think it’s because he’s passing the ball,” said Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson. “… He’s found that nice balance between being a scorer — and we need him to score right now — (and finding his teammates). I don’t even see a hint of selfishness, which is incredible, given what he’s doing. (Defenders) aren’t sure if he’s going to get in the lane and kick it or finish it; go to the rim or throw a lob. He’s keeping defences off balance. It’s got to be close to the best stretch of his career on both sides of the ball.”
3. CMB sees: It won’t end up on any highlight or reel because the shot didn’t go down, but there was a play at the end of the first quarter that captured one of the (many) reasons the Raptors are excited about rookie Collin Murray-Boyles’ long-term potential. After Shead split the Cavs’ defence, he lofted a lob for Murray-Boyles that was a bit too high, but the rookie went up for it in a crowd anyway, and in one motion tapped it from the rim back to the feet of a wide-open Sandro Mamukelashvili for a three at the horn. The shot didn’t go, but it doesn’t diminish that it’s that kind of wherewithal by Murray-Boyles that makes him such an interesting prospect.
