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 prove otherwise, the prevailing assumption would’ve been that the head coach’s post-game response was about Scottie Barnes.

And that would’ve made perfect sense after the franchise forward put up playoff career-highs of 33 points and 11 assists in a Game 3 drubbing over the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Instead, the bench boss was — rightfully — praising Collin Murray-Boyles, fresh off a performance that looked less a facsimile and more a carbon copy of Barnes when he was breaking out as a rookie.

Close your eyes and listen to Rajakovic, and it’s easy to picture the two-time all-star — once Rookie of the Year — when acknowledging the coach’s words of affirmation for the first-year forward.

“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 form of flattery, what does that make superiority?

After Murray-Boyles racked up 22 points on 11-of-15 shooting on Thursday, putting his name atop the list for highest single-game scoring performances from a Raptors rookie in the playoffs, one notch above Barnes, it’s a question worth asking.

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

OK, so maybe it wasn’t worth asking.

Still, the most Barnes scored during his first post-season run four years ago was 18 points on 8-of-20 shooting against Harden’s Philadelphia 76ers — the last time the Raptors made the playoffs.

A lot has changed since then.

The former fourth-overall pick went from a plug-and-play rookie to face of the franchise just two years after his Game 6 performance tied what was then the Raptors’ rookie scoring record before Murray-Boyles eclipsed it. And in the two years since, the man who handed Barnes the keys — in the form of a $225 million extension — is no longer with the franchise.

But when Masai Ujiri signed Barnes to that max contract, he made it very clear that the six-foot-eight forward is “the type of player you build a team around.”

It was a proclamation that the former president of basketball operations had worked on living up to, even before putting pen to paper.

In the immediate aftermath of trading for Immanuel Quickley (and RJ Barrett), and shortly before handing him and Barnes five-year deals, the former Raptors architect told the Quickley that “it’s an unbelievable fit with you and Scottie.”

While Quickley and Barnes worked on developing guard-forward synergy, Ujiri and GM Bobby Webster took another kick at the can by acquiring Brandon Ingram — then signing him to a three-year extension.

The thinking was simple enough: “Scottie wants to share the ball and Brandon wants to score the ball,” Webster said, just after the 2025 trade deadline passed. “I think that’s sort of a natural fit.”

The series of moves undoubtedly helped Barnes return the Raptors to the playoffs.

But it was fitting that in the most important game (so far), in his moment of need, Barnes looked not to a dynamic pick-and-roll partner, nor an isolation self-creator. Instead, he tapped on the shoulder of, well, Barnes-lite.

Actually, it was more of a grab than a tap.

Barnes watched from the sidelines as the Raptors clung to a three-point lead during one of his rare breathers in Game 3, and when Rajakovic signaled for Murray-Boyles to enter the game, the star forward pulled the rookie and propelled (shoved) him towards the scorer’s table.

As if to embolden him to “just play as hard as possible,” Murray-Boyles surmised, trying his best to contain the grin that was forming as he reflected on the moment. “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 court a minute after muscling the rook into the game, and as the duo helped keep the Raptors ahead the rest of the frame, the sellout Scotiabank Arena crowd was left to discern which two-way terror should be credited for which game-saving play.

Barnes finished the quarter with 13 points, two rebounds and two assists — both helpers ending up with Murray-Boyles, who chipped in six points and three rebounds to go with his defensive showstoppers.

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

Come the start of the fourth quarter, as if parroting Barnes’ habit of patrolling the sidelines, Murray-Boyles spent his brief reprieve on his feet, watching, cheering and presumably anticipating his return to the court.

And when Murray-Boyles was back on the floor two minutes later, with the game tied at 88 and 9:53 to go, he was asked to back up Barnes yet again.

The production was instant. Instinctual even.

First, a strong down-screen to free up Jamison Battle for his first of four 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 frame came on the very next possession as he dropped in a putback for his final basket.

“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 said. “The physicality he brings and just the edge … you know that he doesn’t play like a rookie at all.”

Before leaving the court a couple of minutes after Battle, with his fingerprints all over what was now a 23-point lead, Murray-Boyles forced one more turnover for good measure — breaking up a sidelines inbound pass for a backcourt violation on Allen.

While there’s little doubt that performances from Barrett and Battle played their part, it felt right that brute “force,” amalgamated by Barnes and Murray-Boyles, had left the largest imprint.

“Who was going to play with more force? 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 said after the loss.

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

Arguably the highest compliments are those that come from your peers, like Mobley giving the rookie “credit where credit’s due” and making it clear that Cleveland needs to pay “more attention” to Murray-Boyles.

However you phrase it, the 20-year-old has proven that he not only belongs, but his spot is right next to Barnes.

When the South Carolina product was taken ninth overall by the Raptors last summer, the idea of another non-shooting, defence-first Swiss-army-knife forward next to the one they’re already paying top dollar for was surprising, at least to some prognosticators.

But if three playoff games have demonstrated anything, propping up an identity, especially one hoping to survive the playoffs, requires multiple pillars.

Murray-Boyles appears to be that second load-bearing beam.

Before the playoffs started, Rajakovic said the team was installing habits that he believed “can help us in the playoffs.”

And although Jakob Poeltl looked better in Game 3, it doesn’t feel like a coincidence that executing on their coach’s pronouncement — and looking more like the league’s No. 5-ranked defence — has appeared far more achievable since Murray-Boyles was given the lion’s share of minutes halfway through Game 2.

With the rookie on the floor, the Cavaliers’ turnover rate has shot up and rim frequency has dwindled. All the while, the Raptors’ rebound rate, paint finishing and transition frequency have trended positively.

It reinforces the notion that while one game-breaking forward is exciting, two could be franchise-altering.

A lesson the Raptors have learned this series, win or lose.

Now, the tricky part will be telling the two apart, perhaps during Game 4 on Sunday, and for years to come.