The Canadian Press
Lori Ewing
TORONTO–A new superstar, a new head coach, and a victory for the new-look Raptors to open what’s been one of the most-anticipated NBA regular seasons for Toronto in a while.
Kawhi Leonard, Toronto’s prized off-season acquisition, had 24 points and 12 rebounds in his first real game as a Raptor, and Kyle Lowry added 27 points and eight assists, as Toronto beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 116-104 last night.
“I felt good. I’m happy we came out and got a win,” Leonard said.
“I came out of the game healthy. So it’s a win-win for me,” he added.
Fred VanVleet added 14 points while Pascal Siakam finished with 13 on a night that marked Nick Nurse’s first game as Toronto’s head coach.
Kevin Love led the Cavs with 21 points while Cedi Osman added 17.
Canadian Tristan Thompson grabbed a team-high 13 rebounds.
Leonard played 37 minutes in his first regular-season action since Jan. 13–the two-time defensive player-of-the-year missed all but nine games because of a quadriceps injury in a bizarre season last year in San Antonio.
The 27-year-old missed his first three shots before Lowry gave up an easy basket for a pass to the trailing Leonard four minutes into the game.
He shot 9-for-22 on the night.
How close is he back to peak form?
“It’s one game,” Leonard conceded. “I can only see what’s in front of me right now, so it’s not that I’m looking back saying I want to get back to that level, it’s about right now and what I need to do to be the best player for the Raptors.
“That’s what my focus is.”
Jonas Valanciunas had six points to go with 12 boards but it was his passing, including a beautiful behind-the-back bounce pass to OG Anunoby for a dunk, that delighted the crowd.
The Raptors took a 90-75 lead into the fourth quarter but three-straight baskets by Jordan Clarkson pulled the Cavs within nine points.
VanVleet then scored seven-consecutive points to put the brakes on Cleveland’s run.
And when Serge Ibaka drained a three-pointer with 7:29 to play, it put the Raptors up by 12 in front of a capacity Scotiabank Arena crowd of 19,915 that included former Maple Leafs’ captain Doug Gilmour.
The Cavs sliced the deficit to seven points with 3:08 to play.
A Siakam block created a couple of free throws for Leonard at the other end–during which a handful of fans chanted “M-V-P!”–and the Raptors led by 10 with two-and-a-half minutes to play and never looked back.
“It’s still early,” Leonard stressed. “We had a lot of mistakes on the defensive end that we could correct.
“Our offence was also stagnant at some times tonight,” he added. “But our skill level and focus, and us playing really hard tonight, got us the win.”
The Raptors shot 49 per centon the night but only made 20 trips to the free-throw line, compared to 39 for Cleveland.
“I think we saw some spurts of some pretty good play but it wasn’t the prettiest painted picture,” Nurse conceded.
“There were a lot of whistles, a lot of stoppage, we sent them to the line a little bit too much and gave up a few too many offensive rebounds. . . .
“Yeah, we’ve got some room for improvement, that’s for sure.”
The game was a bit of revenge for the Raptors after being ousted by Cleveland in three-staright post-season runs.
The second-round sweep last spring was the final straw for team president Masai Ujiri, who fired coach Dwane Casey and then unceremoniously jettisoned DeMar DeRozan and Jakob Poeltl to the Spurs for Leonard and Danny Green.
The anticipation of a fresh start was palpable in the arena, and when Leonard was announced during the glitzy pre-game introductions, the crowd’s roar drowned out the public address.
“It felt great,” Leonard said of the reception. “They gave me some more energy, I felt the support, and it only fuelled me to play better.”
Green took centre-court for the traditional regular-season address, telling the crowd: “I feel a warm welcome when I step in here.”
