Toronto Raptors survive overtime to get Opening Night win; 3 takeaways
The Toronto Raptors opened their title defense with a exhilarating, overtime victory over the New Orleans Pelicans. Here are a few takeaways from the season opener.
Tuesday night, the Toronto Raptors opened the season with a ring ceremony and then introduced a repeat-ready offense in their 130-122 overtime win over the New Orleans Pelicans.
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As it would turn out, Tuesday would be marked by standout performances from Raptors of both past and present. In California, we watched as Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green stole the show, while earlier in Toronto, the trio of Pascal Siakam, Fred VanVleet and Kyle Lowry proved to be too much on opening night.
Even as fans waited to see the first meaningful NBA game since last June, an injury to No. 1 pick Zion Williamson threatened to sap some of the potential excitement of this game.
Those fans were ultimately rewarded: Tuesday night’s game marked the first time since 2005 that an opening game went to overtime and the 252 combined points were the most in a single game since opening day in 1990.
Within that, the Raptors quickly answered the pivotal question — at least for the moment — that fans all over the world had wondered: how would the offense perform without its Finals MVP, a man that some said had the greatest individual postseason in basketball history?
The short answer: absolutely fine. The team stepped up its game, relying on career nights from many of its carryovers from last year’s squad and moved to 1-0 heading into its two-game road trip.
All that in mind, it’s time to look at a few takeaways from the Raptors’ season opening victory over New Orleans, and what that means for the very near future.