Amid the pomp and ceremony of Vince Carter’s iconic No. 15 being raised to the rafters and all the heartfelt words and raw emotion that would follow, a game was played.
By no means did it come even remotely close to matching the many high notes struck during the halftime jersey retirement ceremony, but the Raptors’ play in the first quarter was among the early season’s best.
The period featured the Raptors turning the ball over once while forcing the visiting Sacramento Kings into five turnovers.
Chris Boucher was perfect from the field as eight players would score in helping Toronto jump out to a 37-29 advantage.
A 66-63 halftime lead would be forged.
Saturday night also marked the return of DeMar DeRozan, whose No. 10 jersey will one day be honoured by the Raptors.
DeRozan had more turnovers (4) than makes (2) in the opening half.
He elevated his game in the second half, which shouldn’t surprise anyone on a night when overtime was required.
This wasn’t a must-win for the Raptors, but they did enter the night having lost four in a row and were staring at a tough road trip.
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Full marks to this young group in persevering to manufacture a well-deserved 131-128 win in extra time.
Toronto did lead by as many as 13 points in the fourth quarter and once again failed to convert from the foul line in clutch moments.
This time, they survived.
Jakob Poeltl fouled out with 2:58 remaining, which proved costly because the Kings forced the extra five minutes on a Domantas Sabonis put-back when DeRozan failed to convert on a drive to the hole.
In OT, the Raptors were at their scrappy and feisty best, contesting and getting out in transition.
DeRozan was unstoppable when the ball was in his hands, only to come up short.