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Amid the pomp and ceremony of Vince Carter’s iconic No. 15 being raised to the rafters and all of the heartfelt phrases and uncooked emotion that will comply with, a sport was performed.
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In no way did it come even remotely near matching the numerous excessive notes struck throughout the halftime jersey retirement ceremony, however the Raptors’ play within the first quarter was among the many early season’s greatest.
The interval featured the Raptors turning the ball over as soon as whereas forcing the visiting Sacramento Kings into 5 turnovers.
Chris Boucher was excellent from the sector as eight gamers would rating in serving to Toronto soar out to a 37-29 benefit.
A 66-63 halftime lead could be solid.
Saturday evening additionally marked the return of DeMar DeRozan, whose No. 10 jersey will in the future be honoured by the Raptors.
DeRozan had extra turnovers (4) than makes (2) within the opening half.
He elevated his sport within the second half, which shouldn’t shock anybody on an evening when additional time was required.
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This wasn’t a must-win for the Raptors, however they did enter the evening having misplaced 4 in a row and have been observing a troublesome highway journey.
Full marks to this younger group in persevering to fabricate a well-deserved 131-128 win in additional time.
Toronto did lead by as many as 13 factors within the fourth quarter and as soon as once more did not convert from the foul line in clutch moments.
This time, they survived.
Jakob Poeltl fouled out with 2:58 remaining, which proved pricey as a result of the Kings pressured the additional 5 minutes on a Domantas Sabonis put-back when DeRozan did not convert on a drive to the outlet.
In OT, the Raptors have been at their scrappy and feisty greatest, contesting and getting out in transition.
DeRozan was unstoppable when the ball was in his fingers, solely to come back up brief.
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