While some franchises choose to gradually introduce their major players into the preseason rotation, Nick Nurse spared no one for the Raptors’ first game against Utah.
It must be said that his team played in Edmonton, in the province of Alberta, and that the Raptors strategist would not have been deprived of Canadian fans of their favorite players. This is how Toronto squarely started with what could look like its major five (Fred VanVleet, Gary Trent Jr, OG Anunoby, Scottie Barnes and Pascal Siakam) to face a very upset Utah team…
Paradoxically, the Jazzmen will have held a half against the “big” (50-49) before plunging for good in front of the Canadian “second unit”. There was a 10-0 as soon as the locker room returned with the Hernangomez-Boucher duo in charge (60-49), then an 11-0 in stride, concluded by a great “coast-to-coast” from Dalano Banton who somewhat killed the suspense (78-58).
After counting up to 35 points in advance, the Raptors finally won 114-82. In Nick Nurse’s rotation expanded to 18 players, Chris Boucher came out on top with 11 points and 10 rebounds in 14 minutes.
On the Utah side, Lauri Markkanen made a successful debut in his new colors with 20 points in 24 minutes. The same cannot be said of Kelly Olynyk (0 pt at 0/7) or Malik Beasley (6 points at 2/12 in shooting including 1/8 at 3-points).
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