Raptors Show Hard Working Culture in Shocking Upset of Suns
It wasn’t all that long ago that the Phoenix Suns seemed to be wandering in the NBA desert looking for a direction.
They’d burned through four coaches in the span of seven years and were trying to embark on a culture reset. In came Monty Williams and a new coaching staff featuring Darko Rajakovic and suddenly everything began to change.
Four years later, almost everything about the Suns is different. They’re no longer some NBA outpost but rather in the inner circle of teams with a genuine shot to win a championship. As for their roster, only Devin Booker remains from that 2019-20 team that began to turn the tide for the organization, but what’s clear is the foundation Williams and Rajaković helped to build in Phoenix remains the bedrock for whatever success the organization has moving forward.
"He meant a lot," Booker said of Rajaković. "I'd say that (he's) somebody people probably didn't know much about until he got this head coaching job, but ... when he got the job in Memphis I was like damn, I wish we still had Darko. I loved having him around."
For the Toronto Raptors, the hope is for the same results.
It’s not going to happen overnight, but the goal is to be building to something in the future, something, ideally, centered around Scottie Barnes and whoever else is around to join him.
On Wednesday, Toronto showed hints at what the future might look like, knocking off the Suns in a shocking 112-105 upset victory at Scotiabank Arena.
It was Barnes who carried Toronto late. He led the bench unit when the Raptors needed to buy time and kept the Suns at bay with 12 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter. When crunch time rolled around, it was Barnes who iced the game at the free-throw line after a layup from Dennis Schröder put the Raptors out of reach for the Suns.
"When the game is on the line, you have players, and Scottie is one of those guys, you just see in his eyes that he's like ultra-focused and ready," Rajaković said. "He loves the moment. He's embracing the moment and he's ready to go out there and do whatever it takes."
Nobody would have faulted the Raptors had they come out sluggish against Phoenix. The team landed in Toronto at 4 am on the heels of a hard-fought game against the Brooklyn Nets. Considering the talent of the Suns who came into Toronto riding a seven-game winning streak, a blowout loss would have been entirely reasonable.
But not to the Raptors.
"It's the challenge that's ahead of us. We cannot control what we cannot control," Rajaković said pre-game. "We've got to put our minds and hearts wherever they need to be. And that's to play great basketball and to bounce back.”
That's what Toronto did.
Pascal Siakam came out looking for his shot. He got Devin Booker off-balanced with his spin move and managed to nail a catch-and-shoot three-pointer in the opening minutes. He stuck Toronto to a 12-point lead in the second quarter, converting an and-1 in transition through contact from Eric Gordon.
Kevin Durant still got his, but Toronto kept Devin Booker under wraps in the first half, double-teaming the Suns superstar in pick-and-roll coverage and holding him to just 1-for-8 shooting before the break.
It helped Toronto that Jusuf Nurkic presented another immobile center that Jakob Poeltl could match up against. Toronto’s big man has been hyper-efficient as of late, coming into Wednesday as the league’s leader in field goal percentage. He showed no signs of slowing down against Phoenix, scoring 17 points on 8-for-9 shooting.
"He's getting his conditioning back for sure," Rajaković said of Poeltl. "He is one of the best in the league in shooting from that non-rim area, from the blocks and he has amazing touch there and he's doing a really good job of playing in those pockets and in pick-and-rolls."
But Durant nor Poeltl’s counterpart Nurkic were troubled too much. The two worked a two-man game that seemed to flummox the Raptors in the third quarter. Even against Anunoby’s tight defense, Durant proved too tall, rising up and connecting on tough jumpers to cut into Toronto’s lead. Nurkic put the Suns ahead briefly with a three-pointer late in the quarter.
The Raptors made the questionable decision to start the fourth with Barnes and the bench, a unit that has been particularly ineffective this year. But Barnes made it worth it, nailing a pull-up three before connecting on an old-fashioned three-point play. Precious Achiuwa added a three-pointer and somehow Toronto’s six-point lead to start the quarter ballooned to 11.
"More experienced only will make you better as a player and Darko’s trusting him to bring the ball up the court more and play a point-forward and he’s shooting threes at a high rate now," Durant said of Barnes. "So the sky’s the limit for him."
Durant just wouldn’t go away, leading the Suns with 30 points on 11-for-30 shooting. Even with a hobbled Booker by his side, he kept breathing life into a Suns team that suddenly looked thinner than you’d think a championship contender would be. He nailed a floater over Jakob Poeltl to pull the Suns within three and seemed to suck up all the attention Toronto was affording Phoenix defensively.
Yet, on a night when nobody expected a win, Toronto showed the kind of culture and toughness Rajaković has been talking about.
"This is a group of people, they don't quit. They want to win. They want to represent our team. They want to represent the city of Toronto and the whole of Canada," Rajakvoić said. "Those guys they take a lot of pride in in what they do."
Up Next: New York Knicks
The Raptors will continue this homestand Friday night when the New York Knicks come to town for a 7:30 p.m. ET tipoff.
