Friday, October 20, 2017

Season opener and practice fight: 117-100 Raptors’ victory over the depleted Chicago Bulls on Thursday. (0-1; 81)

Not much about the Bulls in the Toronto Star game article.  The Raptor's bench creamed the Bulls reserves.  With LaVine, Dunn, Portis and Mitoriç out, three of the Bulls 2nd unit squad started and they played the Raptors close (20-22).  Then the back of the bench played; and played poorly (2-20).

Valanciunas scores 23, Miles has 22 in Raptors win over Bulls - Sportsnet.ca
The 30-year-old Miles was acquired in the off-season to boost Toronto’s three-point shooting, but has found another role as the veteran voice of the Raptors’ young second unit. They provided the turning point Thursday night. Clutching a 22-20 lead late in the first quarter, Casey subbed out his entire starting lineup.
Miles orchestrated a 20-2 run by the young guns — Wright, Jakob Poeltl, Fred VanVleet and rookie OG Anunoby. And when they finally took a seat, to much applause from the starters, they’d given the Raptors a 20-point cushion.
"As a unit we need every single person on this roster to be ready," Miles said. "And for us to be able to go in there as a whole five and have success, for those guys, that’s big for them, early in the year and early in their careers to be able to gain confidence.

Positive are:

  1. The fact the team lost by about 20; never collapsed. 
  2. Hoiberg learned that line-up which lost 2-20 to the Raptor's bench should not be seen again. 
  3. Bulls found a better backup PG in Felder who played aggressive.
  4. Pondexter played for the 1st time in 2 years.


Toronto's take on the Bulls practice fight.  They're not as surprised or taken back by the altercation. hmmm...
Intramural fights nothing new in NBA | Toronto Star

“We had some doozies in Seattle, I’ll tell you that,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey recalled. “We had some fisticuffs. One that started on the court and went in the weight room and went outside, came back in. It was a long one. I’ve seen those.”
Casey wouldn’t name the participants in that specific brouhaha — he was an assistant coach on a team that employed the volatile Gary Payton so take that as you will — because teams like to keep those sorts of things in-house.
“I’ve seen a few, you keep that in house,” Toronto guard Kyle Lowry said.

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