Rookie Collin Murray-Boyles cementing spot beside Raptors’ best

TORONTO — “He’s a warrior, to be honest with you.”

If not for dozens of cameras and mics pointed at Darko Rajakovic to show in any other case, the prevailing assumption would’ve been that the top coach’s post-game response was about Scottie Barnes.

And that may’ve made good sense after the franchise ahead put up playoff career-highs of 33 factors and 11 assists within the Toronto Raptors Game 3 drubbing over the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Instead, the bench boss was — rightfully — praising Collin Murray-Boylescontemporary off a efficiency that regarded much less a facsimile and extra a carbon copy of Barnes when he was breaking out as a rookie.

Close your eyes and take heed to Rajakovic, and it is easy to image the two-time all-star and eleven Rookie of the Year, when acknowledging the coach’s phrases of affirmation for the first-year participant.

“He’s been stepping on the floor and fighting and giving it all, defending and rebounding, creating space with his rolls. I thought he was ultra aggressive and he needed to be… He did everything the team demanded tonight.”

Yet, if imitation is the sincerest type of flattery, what does that make superiority?

After Murray-Boyles racked up 22 factors on 73.3 per cent capturing in Game 3, placing his identify atop the listing for highest single-game playoff scoring performances from a Raptors rookie, one notch above Barnes, it was a query value asking.

“I feel the same as before the game. It doesn’t really matter to me,” he mentioned after the Raptors first victory of the collection. “Just have to do what I have to do to help the team win.”

OK, so perhaps it wasn’t value asking.

Still, probably the most Barnes scored throughout his first post-season run 4 years in the past was 18 factors on 8-of-20 capturing towards Harden’s Philadelphia 76ers — the final time the Raptors made the playoffs.

Quite a bit has modified since then.

The former fourth-overall choose went from a plug-and-play rookie to face of the franchise simply two years after mentioned Game 6 efficiency tied what was then the Raptors’ rookie scoring file earlier than Murray-Boyles eclipsed it. And within the two years since, the person who handed Barnes the keys — within the type of a $225 million extension — is now not with the franchise.

It was a proclamation the previous president of basketball operations labored on residing as much as, even earlier than placing pen to paper.

After buying and selling for Immanuel Quickley (and RJ Barrett), and shortly earlier than handing him and Barnes five-year offers, the previous Raptors architect Quickley that “it’s an unbelievable fit with you and Scottie.”

Ujiri and GM Bobby Webster took one other kick on the can by buying Brandon Ingram — then signing him to a three-year extension.

The considering was easy sufficient: “Scottie wants to share the ball and Brandon wants to score the ball,” Webster said simply after the 2025 commerce deadline handed. “I think that’s sort of a natural fit.”

A collection of strikes that undoubtedly helped Barnes return the Raptors to the playoffs.

But it was becoming that in crucial sport (to this point), in his second of want, Barnes regarded to not a dynamic pick-and-roll associate, nor an remoted self-creator. Instead, he tapped on the shoulder of, nicely, Barnes-lite.

Actually, it was extra of a seize than a faucet.

Barnes watched from the sidelines because the Raptors clung to a three-point lead throughout considered one of his uncommon breathers in Game 3, and when Rajakovic signaled for Murray-Boyles to enter the sport, the star ahead pulled the rookie and propelled (shoved) him in direction of the scorer’s desk.

As if to embolden him to “just play as hard as possible,” Murray-Boyles surmised, making an attempt his best to include the grin that was forming as he mirrored on the second. “I don’t know why he did that… but obviously, he sees that I’m doing something good out there, so of course it encourages me to keep doing it.”

Barnes returned to the courtroom a minute after muscling the rook into the sport, and because the duo helped maintain the Raptors forward for the remainder of the third quarter, the sellout Scotiabank Arena crowd was left to discern which two-way terror must be credited for which game-saving play.

As for the 24-year-old, he completed the body with 13 factors, two rebounds and two assists — each helpers going to Murray-Boyles, who chipped in six factors and three rebounds to go together with his defensive showstoppers.

“He’s just been doing a great job of finding those windows and being able to score,” Barnes mentioned of the rookie, who’s now hit 72.7 per cent of his pictures by means of three playoff video games. “Being super physical, trying to go through the defender.”

Come the beginning of the fourth quarter, as if parroting Barnes’ behavior of patrolling the sidelines, Murray-Boyles spent his temporary two-minute reprieve on his toes, watching, cheering and presumably anticipating his return to the courtroom.

And when Murray-Boyles was again on the ground, with the sport tied at 88 and 9:53 to go, requested to again up Barnes but once more, the manufacturing was on the spot. Instinctual even.

“Really just not being afraid of the moment,” the rookie mentioned of his seamless transition onto the large stage. “We’re playing against a really good team, (with) one of my favorite players (Harden) on that team, so just not being scared of who we’re going up against, and really just taking it to them.”

First, a robust down-screen to unencumber Jamison Battle for his first of 4 threes. Then, after connecting with RJ Barrett for a pair of layups, Murray-Boyles collected a missed Toronto free throw and dished it to Battle for his third triple. His second offensive rebound of the body got here on the very subsequent possession earlier than he dropped in a putback for his eleventh and last area purpose.

“I came off the court, looked up and (Murray-Boyles) only had eight rebounds, but it felt like he had 20. That’s just the impact that he had out there,” Battle mentioned. “The physicality he brings and just the edge… you know that he doesn’t play like a rookie at all.”

Once Scotiabank Arena stopped vibrating, and together with his fingerprints throughout what was now a 23-point lead, Murray-Boyles pressured yet another turnover for good measure — breaking apart an inbound entry cross for a backcourt violation — earlier than leaving the courtroom.

So, whereas there is not any doubt that seminal performances from Barrett and Battle performed their half, it felt proper that the brute “force,” amalgamated by Barnes and Murray-Boyles left the biggest imprint.

“They won that battle, and once that happens, you’re on your heels. It’s kind of the story of the game,” Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson mentioned after the loss. “That’s to their credit. Their force wore us down.”

Meanwhile, Rajakovic described the rookie’s effort as a “high-level performance” that has contributed to the ability of “his will.”

Then there’s the best compliments that come out of your friends, like Mobley giving Murray-Boyles “credit where credit’s due” and making it clear that Cleveland must pay “more attention” to the ahead.

However you phrase it, all of it speaks to the truth that the 20-year-old has confirmed that he not solely belongs on the courtroom, however that his spot is correct subsequent to Barnes.

When the South Carolina product was taken ninth total by the Raptors final summer time, the thought of ​​one other non-shooting, defense-first do-it-all ahead beside the one they’re already paying prime greenback for was shocking, a minimum of to some prognosticators.

Yet if three playoff video games have demonstrated something, it is that propping up an id — hoping to outlive high-leverage hoops — requires a number of pillars. And Murray-Boyles is that second load-bearing beam.

Before the post-season started, Rajakovic said the crew was putting in habits that he believed might “help us in the playoffs.” And though Jakob Poeltl regarded higher in Game 3, it does not really feel like a coincidence that executing on the coach’s pronouncement has appeared much more achievable as soon as Murray-Boyles was given the lion’s share of enjoying time midway by means of Game 2.

Since his utilization price has jumped from fifth to 3rd between Games 1 and three, Cleveland’s turnover price has elevated, and rim frequency dwindled, all whereas the Raptors’ rebound price, paint ending and transition frequency have trended positively. For the collection, Murray-Boyles has averaged 17.7 factors, 6.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists, whereas holding a top-10 true capturing mark (74.4 per cent) amongst all 101 gamers to log a minimum of 50 playoff minutes. His identify exhibits up simply as excessive when sifting by means of classes like display assists, contested rebounds and even paint factors, which he leads the NBA in.

All of which reinforces the notion that one game-breaking ahead could also be thrilling, however two could possibly be franchise-altering. A lesson the Raptors have discovered this collection, win or lose.

Now, the difficult half will probably be telling the 2 aside, maybe throughout Game 4 on Sunday, and for years to come back.