With six coaches on the sidelines, Sergio Scariolo steps in to lead Toronto Raptors to win

For Sergio Scariolo, it was just one more game.

The Toronto Raptors assistant coach slipped 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 as Toronto lacked a star Pascal Siakam, head coach Nick Nurse and five other Raptors assistants due to health and safety protocols.

But even with another Toronto assistant to Chris Finch, who earlier this week became Minnesota’s head coach, the Raptors still had a man with enough experience on the bench to handle the job.

Scariolo has 25 years of experience as a coach abroad and since 2009 has been the head coach of the Spanish national team, with which he has won the FIBA ​​Eurobasket tournament three times (2009, 2011 and 2015) and the FIBA ​​World Cup (2019). He also coached Spain to a silver medal at the 2012 Olympics and a bronze medal at the 2016 Olympics.

So no, it wasn’t his first rodeo.

In fact, Scariolo was head coach last week as he coached Spain for the Eurobasket qualifiers in Poland on February 19-21. Spain won both matches.

“It’s a 3-0 week,” Raptors guard Kyle Lowry said.

Initially quarantined this week after returning from Poland, Scariolo became available to join the team on Friday, just as health and safety protocols removed the coaching staff. Scariolo said he returned from Poland on Monday and spent the rest of the week away from the Raptors. He traveled to Miami, where the Raptors played on Wednesday, but still remained estranged from the team; he drove back 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 reallocating tasks to coaches who would still be able to be with the team on Friday morning. The team also had to change their pre-game routine because testing didn’t come back on time, so the Raptors had to have a joint movie shoot before they stepped onto the floor without a visit.

“So it was kind of reacting to something different each time, but at the end of the day we got the W, so whatever,” said Scariolo.

Scariolo said he had a video call with the nurse before the game and acknowledged the nurse’s philosophy and the teamwork he instilled in the coaching staff for helping make the transition as smooth as possible. He also attributed his own experience as a head coach.

“Honestly, it didn’t make too much of a difference from the 1,500 games I’ve coached before,” said Scariolo. “I felt we were ready to step into the game because everyone contributed and that’s what it takes in a team sport like basketball.”

Lowry and guard Fred VanVleet tried to downplay the situation as much as possible, but Lowry made sure to grab the ball after the buzzer and present it to Scariolo after the game. Scariolo has said basketball will go next to other balls players have given 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 overcorrect something that didn’t need to be fixed.

“I think I kind of figured that out pretty early on once they decided that these coaches were obviously going to be out. I didn’t really want to overreact,” VanVleet said. “I think it’s one of those things that you’ve probably put a little too much stock into, but the game isn’t changing.

“The way we have to play doesn’t change. The way we play doesn’t change. So just having a different voice, obviously, that’s why you have a strong coaching staff for situations like this. Obviously Sergio has been a great head coach for a long time. He does it at a high level so hooking it up was pretty straightforward to do. “

The Raptors did not disclose the names of the coaches who missed the game, but Jim Sann, Jamaal Magloire and Mark Tyndale were spotted along the Raptors bench and received screams from VanVleet and Lowry after the game.

Scariolo said he is unsure how long he will be in the interim head coach position, adding that the team will continue to operate on the fly until they know more. While he had spoken to Nurse before the game, he had not spoken to her until he met reporters after the game. There were more important issues to deal with first.

“I’ll make sure I take the test first, this is my first test and I don’t want to make a mistake just yet,” he said. “We can’t afford it. So of course we’ll talk.”