  | D. Carroll 29 MIN | 2-8 FG | 2-6 3FG | 2-4 FT | 7 REB | 1 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 8 PTS | +21 +/-He didn’t stand out, but that’s fine as he still works his way back from last season’s injury. Merely the fact he was able to go extended minutes and look okay is a positive. He is clearly still missing some explosion as his finishing at the basket was a struggle, but an okay start to the year. | ||||||||
  | P. Siakam 22 MIN | 2-2 FG | 0-0 3FG | 0-0 FT | 9 REB | 0 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 4 PTS | +16 +/-The 27th pick started on opening night. That’s an accomplishment in and of itself. The big accomplishment though is that he didn’t look out of place at all. He belonged on the court tonight. Quick feet in the open court and while chasing on the perimeter, and the desire to contest every shot. He even showed great instincts at jumping the passing lanes. The Raptors early lead started to dwindle almost the moment that Pascal went to the bench. Coincidence? (Yes…yes it is.) I love him. And no one can tell me differently. | ||||||||
  | J. Valanciunas 35 MIN | 10-15 FG | 0-0 3FG | 12-14 FT | 11 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 32 PTS | +22 +/-How does his pump-fake actually work so consistently on Andre Drummond? How? Almost no one ever believes it, but Drummond trusts a shot is coming almost every time. The presence of Drummond seems to bring out the best in Jonas, and tonight was no different. Jonas got off to a great start, hit the glass hard, drew two quick fouls on Andre, and even laid a brutal elbow to Drummond’s chin. The lethargic Valanciunas we saw in preseason (and that awful preseason haircut) was nowhere to be seen. Jonas scored 8 of the Raptors first 10 points and didn’t slow down, finishing with a solid double-double of 32 points and 11 rebounds. He even crammed a dunk over The Monster that is Boban. Toronto was making a clear effort to get him involved regularly (finally!) and it paid dividends. Outside of DeRozan, Jonas is the biggest reason that this game never seemed to be in question. | ||||||||
  | K. Lowry 38 MIN | 3-13 FG | 1-5 3FG | 3-3 FT | 5 REB | 8 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 10 PTS | +2 +/-Started slow, but with DeMar and Jonas cooking early it felt more intentional than anything else. As the game went on it stopped feeling that way. Lowry was the most disappointing Raptor in game one. That’s at least in part due to the high expectations that I have for Lowry, but he also was kind of just…there. Seemed to get going for a few brief moments in the fourth, but nothing to write home about. | ||||||||
 | D. DeRozan 34 MIN | 17-27 FG | 0-2 3FG | 6-6 FT | 4 REB | 1 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 6 TO | 40 PTS | +21 +/-Took it to the rim at will early, hit a few of his patented turn-around shots that cause me frustration when they aren’t falling, and did almost whatever he wanted. Detroit tried everything possible to slow him down (KCP, Morris, Harris, etc.) and none of it worked. Some of his finishes at the rim were pure works of art due to the difficulty. It’s just one game, but I think it’s safe to say that DeMar is the league MVP (Just in case this joke was missed or was taken seriously, he’s not. But he was exceptional tonight). 40 points on opening night. Beautiful. | ||||||||
 | P. Patterson 26 MIN | 1-5 FG | 0-2 3FG | 1-2 FT | 4 REB | 1 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 3 PTS | +2 +/-No significant contributions on the stats sheet, but steady defense as we have all come to expect. I literally have no single memory of Pat Pat from tonight’s game, which says a lot. | ||||||||
  | T. Ross 19 MIN | 2-4 FG | 0-1 3FG | 0-0 FT | 4 REB | 3 AST | 2 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 4 PTS | -3 +/-First wing off the bench tonight, and Casey made it clear before the game that he is ahead of Norm on the depth chart. An engaged Ross is a solid contributor, and maybe hearing Norm’s footsteps behind him could be the best thing for his career. His passing also felt like a nice bonus tonight. Really locked in across the board. I mean, he hit a freaking sky-hook at one point. Not a lot on his stat-sheet, but he looked engaged which has always been the biggest battle for Terry. | ||||||||
  | J. Poeltl 13 MIN | 1-4 FG | 0-0 3FG | 0-0 FT | 2 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 2 PTS | -4 +/-I liked a lot of what I saw from Poeltl. Quick going up and down the court, battled hard on the glass, strong box-outs, and some intelligent defensive plays as well. Early in the second quarter he did a smart double in the post which led to a Ross steal. Yes, he had his struggles and got called for a few “rookie fouls” (at least three), but overall there were encouraging signs. Enough here to grow into a contributing role based on the smallest of sample sizes. As he gets physically stronger his game will follow. Willingly battled against behemoths like Drummond and Baynes, which is a solid start. | ||||||||
 | C. Joseph 22 MIN | 3-6 FG | 0-0 3FG | 0-0 FT | 4 REB | 2 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 6 PTS | +12 +/-He got an offensive rebound while sitting on his butt. Even he looked surprised. Didn’t get much of a view of his refined jumpshot, but we got the typically Cory Joseph performance from him. Steady floor managing, a few tough rebounds, and making every offensive possession a challenge for his man. Could start on several teams in the league, and the fact he comes off the bench in Toronto is a sign of the wealth of talent we get to enjoy. | ||||||||
  | N. Powell 2 MIN | 0-2 FG | 0-2 3FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 0 PTS | +1 +/-Norm starts the season as the early favourite for player we all lament isn’t getting minutes. Toronto is finally deep enough as a team that quality players are going to have to fight for minutes. He got into the game late for a few garbage minutes at least, so no one needs to riot…yet. | ||||||||
| Dwane Casey I loved the decision to start Siakam at PF, if only to separate his minutes from Poeltl’s. Good roster balance, excellent job with rotations (especially considering injuries), and the team was clearly prepared. He successfully prepared two rookies to step in and produce in a winning effort. All-in-all, a solid night that was produced by clear development behind the scenes. | ||||||||
Three Things We Saw
- I’m going to take another opportunity to glow about Siakam. If you have the chance, go back and watch the last few minutes of the first half. Detroit kicked it out to Morris wide open behind the three point line. Siakam recovered quickly from under the basket, ran Morris off the line, stayed on his feet, and front Morris on the drive to force a tough mid-range jumper. It was perfect.
- Having a 7-footer that can both dominate the post and shoot free throws at a high percentage is an incredible weapon. Jonas not only gets to the line at will, he hits the vast majority of his shots once he was there. 12-of-14 from the line tonight!
- Toronto dominated Detroit on the glass, winning the rebounding battle 51-40. This helped to make up for their atrocious three point shooting, where they went just 3-of-18 from deep.Raptors appear to be well built to win the rebound battle consistently, but winning games is often hard if you shoot just 16.7% from three.
