Toronto Raptors: 3 takeaways from 2017-18 season opener

3. DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry understand the “endgame”

DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry have played an incredibly large number of games together as the starting backcourt in Toronto. They have fallen short of the goal every time due to some guy named LeBron James, and if you go even further back, they were embarrassingly swept out of the playoffs by the Washington Wizards back in 2015, and they lost a seven-game series to Brooklyn in 2014. But they have played better year after year, and the regular season has almost importance for this group.

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The first game of the season saw DeRozan and Lowry make a conscious effort to get others involved. Of course, the fact they were playing the dreadful Chicago Bulls helped, but the fact still stands that leaders in shot attempts on the night were Jonas Valanciunas, CJ Miles, and Norman Powell in that order.

At this point, we know that DeRozan will score, he scored a career-high 27.3 points per game last season and at this point knows his role. Lowry always performs, and the only time he has disappointed is in the postseason.

The star duo played very reserved and under control. They only attempted a combined 16 shots against Chicago. They combined for 14 assists and played a huge hand in Miles and Valanciunas having such big scoring nights.

If Lowry and DeRozan get the Raptors new additions acclimated to the team well, they will be all the better for it in April.