The game was barely four minutes old and Toronto had played its best stretch of basketball, providing that much-needed glimpse into the future when the Raptors are hoping to be relevant one day.
No one is about to suggest those early minutes against a Denver Nuggets team one year removed from winning an NBA championship were sustainable because they’re not, but it did reveal the intriguing possibilities.
Eventually, the roster will be more complete with more competent shooters put in place to surround Scottie Barnes, whose biggest weakness remains his shooting.
The early game stretch was far from fleeting as the Raptors were able to put forward an entertaining product, despite losing the game 127-125 in overtime and losing Barnes to an eye injury.
When he was forced to leave, Barnes was one assist shy of recording a triple-double.
It helped that RJ Barrett was able to make his season debut following a pre-season shoulder injury he suffered in Toronto’s exhibition opener.
Right from the jump, Barrett was in attack mode, setting up his defender on the perimeter when three-point heaves opened, cutting to the basket and looking the part of a starter.
When he took a no-look bounce pass from Barnes to score when Barrett made a decisive cut to the hole, the Raptors led 13-8 with Barnes accounting for nine of Toronto’s points.
Denver would immediately call a timeout and when play resumed the Nuggets went on a mini run to take the lead.
This is a youthful Raptors team missing its starting point guard in Immanuel Quickley, who has yet to recover from his hard fall to the floor on opening night when the visiting Cleveland Cavaliers took the home side to the wood shed.
It’s a Raptors team that remains without floor spacer and facilitator Kelly Olynyk.
The Raptors are flawed by any measurement, but they at least were fun and feisty against the Nuggets.
Monday’s tip began a week of marquee games to be staged at Scotiabank Arena.
Many in attendance came to witness the sublime skills of Nikola Jokic, the Joker, who was roundly applauded during the pre-game introductions and generated this air of anticipation when the ball was in the Joker’s hands.
The night also featured the return of Kitchener’s Jamal Murray, who tried to gut it out for Canada at his past summer’s Olympics in Paris when everyone knew he was dealing with some sort of ailment.
The night also belonged to the Malone family.
Denver head coach Michael Malone held court prior to tip and recalled that fateful Nov. 3 day back in 1995 when his dad, the late great Brendan Malone, served as head coach for the expansion Raptors.
Michael was at the SkyDome when his dad helped lead Toronto to its win over the New Jersey Nets.
He was also on hand later that season when the Raptors toppled Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, the year’s defining moment when some 36,000 were in attendance.
An away game awaits Wednesday when the Raptors will be in Charlotte.
When they return home, a date with LeBron James looms Friday night followed by Vince Carter’s jersey retirement on Saturday when one-time Raptors shooting guard DeMar DeRozan makes his return as a member of the Sacramento Kings.
Monday’s visit by the Nuggets also allowed fans to watch former league MVP Russell Westbrook in a Denver uniform.
He’s a shell of himself, but he also plays hard, at times too hard as witnessed by a flagrant one foul he was given when Westbrook made contact Barnes
When an opponent has that certain cache, which Denver clearly has, it adds that event feel to the evening, even on a Monday night with the Maple Leafs playing the host Winnipeg Jets and the World Series shifting to New York for Game 3.
During a second-quarter timeout, some rookie highlights to commemorate the Raptors’ 30th anniversary were shown on the overhead video board.
There was a Carter dunk, a Barnes flush, a Marcus Camby rim rocker followed by a Charlie Villanueva drive and dunk capped off by sweet up and under hoop by Damon Stoudamire.
Barnes added to the highlight reel when he went with his left hand in attacking the basket before finishing as the Raptors held on to their slim advantage.
Not surprisingly, the Raptors did emerge as the better team when Jokic was on the bench for his customary rest.
For some strange reason, an idiotic fan ran on to the court holding a sign.
Before security interjected, the interloper made it the charity stripe on the Nuggets’ side of the floor while play was unfolding on the Raptors’ side of the court.
The game was briefly delayed.
When play resumed, the Raptors continued to fight and held tight.
With 3:40 left in the opening half, the Raptors were leading 53-47.
For the first time in four games, they were protecting the basketball as opposed to turning it over.
In fact, only five turnovers were committed, three to Davion Mitchell and two to Jakob Poeltl.
The half ended with the Raptors leading 62-54 with Barnes resorting to his inner Jokic in scoring 12 points, hauling down seven boards and dishing off six assists.
Zero free throws were attempted, no three-pointers heaved.
The Raptors led by as many as 15 points in the second half, but it became a one-possession game with 21.0 seconds left after Ochai Agbaji made only one of his two free throws.
A Jokic basket made it a one-point game, forcing the Raptors to return to the charity stripe where another free throw would be missed, giving Denver last possession with a chance to win it on a three or force an extra five-minute period.
A Murray reverse layup would send the game into overtime.
The crowd was engaged, the Raptors competing on every possession, it was by far Toronto’s best four games into the season.
It promises to get better this week with LeBron scheduled to be in town followed by the insanity surrounding Vinsanity’s number retirement.