“I couldn’t care less”: Rakocevic feeds off criticism

“I couldn’t care less about what they say.”

Nick Rakocevic has been at the centre of plenty of debate over the past week, but the Adelaide 36ers big man says the only opinions that matter to him come from inside the club.

An unsportsmanlike foul against Akech Aliir divided opinion in Game 1 of the Playoff Series against South East Melbourne, with some experts calling for the 36ers import to be ejected and Phoenix owner Romie Chaudhari labelling him “dirty”.

Adelaide and Rakocevic were also booed by fans in Melbourne during their Game 2 loss, which left them in a must-win scenario in the decider on Tuesday night.

The commentary has been harsh, perhaps unfair, but for Rakocevic only one thing matters: winning.

“I’m used to that. I got that my whole life, so that’s nothing new to me. I’ve been playing basketball a long time, so it’s going to continue to happen,” he said on Monday.

“It just kind of makes me go harder because that’s just people who either doubt or have something against me. That goes to my roots and it just gives me personal energy to prove people wrong. I love to do that.

“I invite all the boos and all the hatred that the crowd shows. It just makes me play better, like it definitely did the other night.”

Rakocevic has been one of the 36ers’ best players during the series, with back to back double-doubles.

“It’s funny to me how people like talking about that (the incident in Game 1), but they don’t want to talk about how I’m the first 36er in eight years to record a double-double in the Finals,” he said.

“They want to bring that up in the media. So I find that funny.

“But that doesn’t mean anything to me. It never has. That type of chatter is for the media. My job is to go out there and win games and play to the best of my abilities.

“I think in those first two games I gave everything that I had, but this is about the team and that type of stuff doesn’t matter to me. If you go and ask any of the players on my team, you go ask the staff, you go even ask the Adelaide community, they’re going to say something completely different about me. That’s all I care about.

“They’re going to back my character, back who I am as a person. Everybody else who isn’t part of this group or our team community, I couldn’t care less about what they say.”

Adelaide is expecting another full house for its Series decider on Tuesday night, with a spot against the Sydney Kings in the Championship Series on the line.

The 36ers are looking to end a 24-year championship drought.

Watch Adelaide face the Phoenix on Tuesday at 7:30pm AEDT, live on ESPN.