-
Andrew LopezESPN
For Sergio Scariolo, this was just another game.
The Toronto Raptors assistant coach slid into the head coach’s chair, leading the team to a 122-111 victory over the Houston Rockets in Tampa Bay on Friday night. The victory came despite Toronto not having star Pascal Siakam, coach Nick Nurse and five other Raptors’ assistants because of health and safety protocols.
But even with Toronto defeated by another assistant, Chris Finch, who earlier this week became the head coach in Minnesota, the Raptors still had a rather experienced man on the bench to handle the job.
Scariolo has 25 years of experience as a coach abroad, and since 2009 he has coached the Spanish national team, with which he won the Fiba Eurobasket tournament three times (2009, 2011 and 2015) and the Fiba World Cup (2019) . He also trained Spain for the silver medal at the 2012 Olympic Games and a bronze medal at the 2016 Olympic Games.
So, no, this was not his first rodeo.
In fact, Scariolo served as head coach last week when he trained Spain for the Eurobasket qualifiers in Poland on 19 and 21 February. Spain won both games.
“It’s a 3-0 week,” said Raptors guard Kyle Lowry.
Originally quarantined this week after returning from Poland, Scariolo became available to return to the team on Friday, as the health and safety protocols eliminated the coaching staff. Scariolo said he returned from Poland on Monday and spent the rest of the week away from the Raptors. He drove to Miami, where the Raptors played on Wednesday, but still remained separate from the team; he returned to Tampa in the same car the day after the game.
Scariolo said the team started putting a plan into action on Thursday, with the Raptors reassigning tasks to coaches who may still be with the team on Friday morning. The team also had to change their routine before the game because the tests did not come back in time, so the Raptors had to do a joint filming session before entering the ground without an inspection.
“So it was kind of always reacting to something different, but at the end of the day, we got W, so who cares,” said Scariolo.
Scariolo said he had a video call with Nurse before the game and gave credit to Nurse’s philosophy and the teamwork he instilled in the technical team to help make the transition as smooth as possible. He also credited his own experience as a head coach.
“Honestly, I didn’t feel much of a difference with the 1,500 games I coached before,” said Scariolo. “I felt that we were prepared to enter the game because everyone gave their contribution and that is what is needed in a team sport like basketball.”
Lowry and guard Fred VanVleet tried to minimize the situation as much as possible, but Lowry made sure to grab the ball after the bell and introduce it to Scariolo after the game. Scariolo said that basketball will go alongside other balls that players gave him after medal games or other championships throughout his career.
VanVleet said the team tried to keep things the same as much as possible so as not to try to fix too much something that didn’t need to be fixed.
“I think I solved that right at the beginning, after they decided that obviously the coaches would be eliminated. I really didn’t want to overreact to that,” said VanVleet. “I think it’s one of those things where you probably place a lot of importance, but the game doesn’t change.
“The way we need to play does not change. The way we play does not change. So, just having a different voice, obviously, that’s why you have a strong technical team for situations like this. Obviously, Sergio has been a great coach for a long time. It has done this at a high level, so plugging it in was very simple to do. “
The Raptors did not disclose the names of the coaches who lost the game, but Jim Sann, Jamaal Magloire and Mark Tyndale were seen on the Raptors bench and received screams from VanVleet and Lowry after the game.
Scariolo said he does not know how long the interim head coach will be, adding that the team will continue to operate quickly until he learns more. Although he spoke to the nurse before the game, he did not speak to him before meeting with reporters after the game. There were more important matters to take care of first.
“I’m going to take the test first, this is my first test and I don’t want to make a mistake now,” he said. “We can’t pay. Then, for sure, we’ll talk.”