The Toronto Raptors have been on a strong winning run lately and Darko Rajatovic had a special prize for his young team after Toronto beat the Indiana Pacers 130-122. The Serbian coach promised his team that he will take the Raptors squad to dinner if they string together a 3-game winning streak.
On Monday, Toronto did that by beating the high and mighty Indiana raising its record to 3-0 since the restart after the All-Star break. Scottie Barnes had 21 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists on a night seven Raptors scored in double figures. Rajakovic made his promise to the Toronto Raptors team on December.
“That’s something I took … to heart, to be honest with you,” Rajaković said, via The Athletic. “When I announced that, Pascal (Siakam) said, ‘Yeah, the team is gonna pay for that.’ He thinks I’m cheap, and that’s not true. Once we get three wins in a row, I’m taking players and staff to dinner, and it’s gonna be out of my pocket.”
The Raptors traded star Pascal Siakam to the Pacers — that was the second time the two sides collide after the trade. The fulfilling of the promise came against the former teammate Pascal Siakam who finished with 27 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists. It was the second win away from home in Raptors’ 3 last games.
Raptors rookie has a breakout performance, Raptors show massive improvement
Aside from Scottie Barnes, the Raptors have seen some real improvement from rookie Gradey Dick who finished with 18 points. The Kansas product made two crucial threes in the 4th period and spurt a 10-2 run to help his team run away with a big victory. Offensive efficiency has been a huge factor for the Raptors in the last three.
Gradey Dick has struggled during his rookie season after being selected with the 13th pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. The former Kansas guard helps his team immensely in the last three with Raptors registering a plus-7.6 net rating when Gradey Dick is on the floor.
“This is just the beginning,” Rajakovic said, when he was asked about Gradey Dick, via ESPN. “He’s going to have good games, he’s going to have bad games, but he needs to continue winning in those situations, continue to learn and get better.”
The Darko Rajakovic team is also on the roll scoring a massive 122.6 offensive rating and allowing just 110.5 per 100 possessions. RJ Barrett who joined the team on January also doing his part (20.3 PTS per since he came in Canada) and Toronto is now sitting at 22-36 3.5 games away from the 10th seeded Atlanta Hawks.
