Continuity comes through for Raptors in opening night win

TORONTO – There are some interesting parallels between the Toronto Raptors and Cleveland Cavaliers, who met on Wednesday night to kick off the 2022-23 NBA season.

A year ago at this time, they were both young teams trying to find themselves, hoping that their high-profile rookie big men could help accelerate their respective retools.

Thanks in large part to the development of those first-year players, each of them playing next to a pair of emerging stars, both clubs exceeded expectations. They shared a strength – their stifling defences – but struggled to shoot the ball and score consistently in the half court. Then, once injuries took a toll, their promising seasons came to an end, with Cleveland failing to make it out of the play-in tournament and Toronto getting eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.

But that’s where the similarities end, as the two franchises diverged over the summer.

The Raptors opted for patience. They’ll look to continuity and internal growth for short-term gains while preserving their assets for another day. The Cavs went all-in, acquiring all-star guard Donovan Mitchell for a substantial package that included young players and a haul of unprotected first-round picks.

These opening night opponents make for interesting test subjects entering the new campaign.

Cleveland is betting that Mitchell can solve the team’s offensive woes and hoping it doesn’t come at the expense of its biggest strength; he’s not exactly known for his work on the defensive end of the floor. Meanwhile, the Raptors leaned in to what they do best. They were long and now they’re longer. They were versatile and now they’re more versatile. The hope is that they’re good enough at what they do well to make up for some of the things they don’t.

Which approach will win out in the end? That’s not something that can be answered after one game, but the earliest of early returns can justify either side.

Mitchell was as good as advertised on Wednesday, scoring 31 points in his Cavs debut. They’ve got a pair of elite rim protectors in Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley who more than made up for the defensive deficiencies of Mitchell and Darius Garland, who left the game in the first half after getting poked in the eye.

But in the final moments and with the game on the line, it was the Raptors that looked more comfortable – a benefit of their familiarity and all the chemistry they’ve spent the last 12 months building. Toronto put the clamps on the visiting Cavs, besting them 32-21 in the fourth quarter en route to a comeback 108-105 opening-night win.

“I think we just kind of stuck to the game plan, tightened up a couple of things,” said Pascal Siakam, who led the team with 23 points and 11 rebounds, and was one of six Toronto players to score in double figures – all five starters had at least 15 points. “I think it helps that we had that same group last year, so we kind of know each other.”

Some familiar concerns resurfaced here and there, as well. Their bench, which was last in the league in scoring a year ago, was outscored 33-18. Their nightly scoring drought came in the second quarter, as the Cavs ripped off a quick 13-0 run.

But, as it often did last season, their defence bailed them out. There was some typical Game 1 miscommunication on that end, particularly in the second and third quarters when they gave up 62 points, but they were far more connected than most teams are this early in the campaign.

You could see it right away. Flying around, as Toronto’s defence does when it’s locked in and at its best, Siakam picked off a Garland pass leading to a Gary Trent Jr. three-pointer in transition just a few minutes in. With their regular starters back together, the Raptors held Cleveland to 36 per cent in the opening quarter and then flipped the switch again in the fourth.

With less than four minutes remaining and the Cavs up by one point, three Raptors players swarmed Allen, with the quick hands of Fred VanVleet tearing the ball away and initiating a fast-break opportunity that led to a dunk for Scottie Barnes. They executed on both ends until the very end, when they successfully gave the foul and put Cleveland on the line up by three points with a few seconds left on the clock.

“[It] feels good to not be teaching on the fly,” said VanVleet, who scored 15 points. “We definitely had our share of mistakes. But it was more normal, doing what we wanted to do. Having been in those situations last year, I think there’s some carryover there. Definitely can be better and will need to be better going forward, but we’ll take it. I thought we fought hard, brought great energy. It’s a good start.”

The Raptors would not have been in a position to make their late push if not for Siakam, who was brilliant in the first half and kept his team in the game during their otherwise shaky second quarter. At this time last year he was watching from the bench, still recovering from off-season shoulder surgery. Coming off a career year and strong summer, he was in mid-season form on Wednesday.

Like his club, Barnes finished strong. The reigning Rookie of the Year bounced back after his quiet first half to make an impact on the fourth-quarter run. He scored six of his 15 points and recorded four of his team-high seven assists in the final frame, ultimately outplaying Mobley, his fellow sophomore and the runner up for last year’s award, who scored 14 points for Cleveland.

Despite their suddenly opposing styles of play, it’s pretty clear how evenly matched these two teams are. Even Vegas has Cleveland and Toronto finishing within two wins of each other in sixth and seventh place, respectively, in the loaded Eastern Conference.

It’ll take some time for the Cavs to figure things out; that happens to any team working in a prominent new piece. Once they do, they’re going to be dangerous. At least they should be, given the cost of that piece.

While the Raptors checked in, as they do whenever a star player is made available, they never considered themselves serious contenders for Mitchell, according to sources – not at Utah’s asking price, anyway. As great as Mitchell is offensively, and as much as he could have helped address some of their most glaring weaknesses, they didn’t see him as a fit.

Last October, the Raptors looked in over the heads on opening night. It was the first game back in Toronto since before the pandemic and Washington held them to 83 points on their home court. That team was months away from establishing an identity. This team, while not without its flaws, knows who they are and how they have to win games.

“You always go into [the season] trying to figure out what the ceiling is and how to get there,” Nurse said before the opener. “This is why a night like tonight is so valuable because we’re gonna learn a lot tonight and tomorrow about taking steps towards where we can go.”

“I think this team has got a chance. They’ve got to play hard. They do tend to play hard and guard and compete. I think we’re hard to play against. It’s just continuing to climb up that ladder of where our team can go.”