Darko Rajakovic has awesome reaction after Raptors beat Hawks

Toronto Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic is celebrating after his team pulled out a victory on opening night against the Atlanta Hawks.

Toronto Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic on the sideline against the Atlanta Hawks. | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

Toronto Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic is fired up after the team pulled out a 138-118 victory against the Atlanta Hawks in the season opener.

Rajakovic's excitement was palpable in the locker room after the game, shouting with his players, who were equally as excited to pull out a win.

New season, new chain and new cobra 😤
Open Gym moment presented by @Bell pic.twitter.com/teJ6xBeDTB

— Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) October 23, 2025

Darko Rajakovic celebrates Raptors opening win

Rajakovic won his season opener back in the 2023-24 season, but failed to come out on top last year, so it's a return to the win column for the first game of the campaign. Rajakovic re-introduced a pair of team awards for games: the cobra and the chain.

The "cobra" winner was Ochai Agbaji for his efforts on the defensive end. Agbaji had two steals in 20 minutes as the Raptors pulled out the win.

The "chain" was new and improved compared to last year and that honor went to RJ Barrett, who scored a team-high 25 points en route to victory.

Rajakovic's energy is something that he hopes his players adopt over the course of the season. There's a lot of optimism at the beginning of the year, so the Raptors need to bottle it all up and keep it over the course of the year.

As the head coach of a young team, having him show this level of emotion is something that can be very helpful to the Raptors moving forward. The Raptors will begin to embody their coach more as the season rolls along.

Rajakovic has shown his competitive side a lot as the Raptors head coach and that has been reflected in how the team competes in games. The Raptors are a team that fights on both ends of the floor night in and night out, which is something all Rajakovic-coached teams have in common.

Of course, there is a little extra energy on opening night, but the Raptors would benefit playing like that as often as possible. If the Raptors can maintain this energy throughout the season, they should be a team to watch all year long in a competitive Eastern Conference.

In the meantime, the Raptors will return home as they play in their first game of the season at Scotiabank Arena against Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks. Tipoff for the game is scheduled for Friday at 6:30 p.m. ET. Fans can watch the game on TSN Sports or stream it on NBA League Pass.