Rajakovic asks for 'more fight' from Raptors after lopsided loss
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Toronto Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic said he wanted to see more fight from his team than what they showed in Monday’s lopsided loss to the Milwaukee Bucks, their second in a row and 12th in 14 games.
Toronto was beaten badly on their home court, allowing Milwaukee to shoot nearly 60 per cent from the field. The Raptors also surrendered 128 points, which was one off the Bucks’ season-high totals.
“[The group] was playing for the first time together this season and we exactly looked like that. We were not connected, we didn’t have enough fight over the course of the game,” Rajakovic said.
“I thought the first couple of minutes was decent and there was fight and there was intention behind it and we were not able to sustain it. We’ll need more sample size, we’ll need more guys to play together, to find a rhythm together and definitely we’ll need to bring much more fight to the game than it was the case tonight.”
RJ Barrett’s return from the flu meant the Raptors had all five of their starters playing in the same game for the first time since March 1 with Scottie Barnes and Immanuel Quickley also missing sizeable chunks of time this season. And while Barrett’s 25 points matched Damian Lillard for the game-high, Toronto allowed six Bucks to score in double figures en-route to a 24-point loss.
“I think [Barnes] did a good job on [Giannis Antetokounmpo] one-on-one, but our close-outs were not good. Every time we were supposed to rotate and close-out to the three-point line to break the rhythm and to take away threes, we did not do a good enough job of that.”
Milwaukee shot 50 per cent from deep Monday night, making 22 threes compared to just nine from the Raptors. As TSN’s Josh Lewenberg points out, six of the Raptors’ last seven opponents have shot 40 per cent or better from three-point range.
The loss dropped Toronto to 8-28 on the season, putting them just a half game ahead of the Washington Wizards for last place in the Eastern Conference. They will be back in action Wednesday night in New York against a Knicks team that has lost three straight after winning nine in a row.
Watch Wednesday’s game LIVE at 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT on TSN1, TSN4, TSN.ca and the TSN App.
Former Raptor makes a splash in return
Three of Milwaukee’s triples Monday were from former Raptor Gary Trent Jr., who received a video tribute and an ovation in his return to Scotiabank Arena. Trent, who was acquired via trade in March of 2021 and spent four seasons with the Raptors, finished with 17 points on an efficient 6-of-9 from the field.
The 25-year-old signed a one-year, $2.6 million contract with the Bucks during the summer.
Trent averaged 16.4 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.7 assists while shooting 42.2 per cent from the field and 38.0 per cent from deep during his 224 regular season games with the Raps. He was averaging 9.4 points on 41.7 from the field and 40.4 from three-point land during 31 games with the Bucks this season coming into Monday's game.