Toronto Raptors survive overtime to get Opening Night win; 3 takeaways

3. The play calling was almost as interesting as the actual game

The city of Toronto endured quite the roller coaster ride on the path to its first championship in franchise history. We certainly couldn’t fault them if the 2019 postseason run was all they wanted throughout the summer. After Tuesday night’s game, you’d have to think they watched plenty of Damian Lillard, as well.

There was a sequence right at the end of regulation last night: the score was knotted at 117, the Toronto Raptors coming out of the huddle. The camera panned over to the guard trio of Kyle Lowry, Fred VanVleet and Norman Powell.

Powell has this look in his eye, VanVleet is patting him on the chest — a means of pumping him up, presumably — and as the seconds began to wind down, I could only mutter one word.

Powell?

The Raptors had schemed a clear-out, isolation for Powell to take a shot similar to Lillard’s against Oklahoma City a season ago; a shot usually reserved for superstars or at least not players who have three points over the course of the game before taking that shot. Predictably, this was the result.

And obviously, takeaways are easier to describe after they’ve happened. Thinking optimistically, maybe the Raptors’ coaching staff assumed New Orleans would focus extra attention on VanVleet and Lowry. But, that’s all mere possibility.

With most of the basketball world upset that the play design — or lack thereof — and missed shot derailed the start of the Lakers-Clippers game on TNT, the humor of the scheme almost went unnoticed. In a way, it almost completely undermined what was one of the most aesthetically pleasing play calls in quite some time.

The game-saving play turned out to be the Raptors’ trusty pick-and-roll hammer play, in which VanVleet and OG Anunoby flip-flop on the weak side of the perimeter. And because the Pelicans are so in-tuned with what Lowry and Pascal Siakam can do on in the two-man game, it allows Marc Gasol to set the hammer screen on J.J. Redick and VanVleet well, drops the hammer.

Play calling for both teams was at times spotty, but to say that it didn’t contribute to one of the more memorable, exciting opening day games in recent memory would be a discredit. Over that 53-minute span, the Toronto Raptors showed the resolve of a champion, the potential of a contender and the vulnerability of a pretender, all in one.

Welcome back to NBA basketball, folks.