Turkoglu to the Rescue: Raptors Beat Cavaliers in Home Opener

In front of a packed house of rabid Raptors’ fans, the Toronto Raptors beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 101 to 91.  An opponent that easily swept them last season by an average of over 18 points per game.

Last season, the Raptors had no answers to anything the Cavaliers brought to the game.  Big Z outplayed Bargnani, LeBron toyed with Moon, even Varejao made Bosh’s life difficult.

Last year, Cleveland’s guards were dominate.  This year with the addition of Parker and Moon plus the Big Diesel inside, expectations were Cleveland would be even tougher.

But times change.  This year’s Raptors are not last year’s Raptors.  In fact not many of last year’s Raptors are even on the team.

Andrea Bargnani started off like he ended last season.  An efficient and effective scorer putting in 28 points on 11 of 15 shooting.  But he showed more toughness in this game against his bigger opponents in Shaq and Big Z than has been evident before.  Bargnani refused to be pushed out of position and ran the Cavaliers big men into submission.

On more than one occasion Shaq watched his team run up the floor and waited for them to return.  Shaq was an unbelievable minus 25 while he was in the game.

But the biggest change in the Raptors’ lineup was evident at small forward.  In one trade Bryan Colangelo has erased the soft mushy middle of the Raptors’ defense that opposing teams have walked through since Jorge Garbajosa went down with that ugly leg injury.

Tonight Hedo Turkoglu was that big smart defender who spent most of his night in the right place, at the right time, with the added benefit of being an effective offensive player. His 12 points, seven rebounds, three assists, and three blocks only reflect some of the impact Turkoglu had on this game.

Turkoglu didn’t stop LeBron from having a great game, but he did stop LeBron from being able to put the Cavaliers on his back and steal a game they didn’t deserve to win.  It was a relief to be able to watch a Toronto Raptors’ player who has sufficient basketball I.Q. to be able to defend without a heroic athletic effort.

After doing the same thing to LeBron and the Cavaliers in last year’s playoffs, the only people who should have been surprised were those who didn’t watch.

The other half of the trade that brought Hedo Turkoglu to Toronto was Antoine Wright.  Wright has been praised by the Raptors coaching staff since the start of training camp as being able to pick up what they were teaching and implement it on the floor.

Wright does not have Turkoglu’s skill set.  But Wright makes up for this with hard work and attitude.  Perhaps the best quote of the preseason belonged to Wright. “You don’t get rollover fouls.”

In just 18 minutes, Wright got 5 fouls.  But for the most part, Wright’s fouls were effective.  Wright uses fouls to disrupt his opponent’s game and anyone who faces him on the court has to be more than a little annoyed.

In many ways Chris Bosh had a rough night.  Blocked twice with three turnovers and five fouls, Bosh struggled with his scoring against Cleveland’s big men.

Hopefully all his struggles end up this way as he struggled to 21 points and 16 rebounds.  Fighting through a tough night to make a difference is a great way to start the season.

Jose Calderon also struggled with his shooting hitting on only one of six. But Jose had no trouble dishing out assists, collecting 11 dimes on the evening.

Both the team’s young and unproven wings DeRozan and Belinelli looked good.  DeRozan played an effective 23 minutes as a starter with eight points, five boards, a block and a steal.  Belinelli came in as instant offensive putting up ten points by going four of eight in 19 minutes including a gorgeous power dunk.

Jarrett Jack continues to struggle with his shot going two of nine, and at times he struggled chasing Boobie Gibson on defense.  The only Raptor playing big minutes to finish the night with a minus rating, Jack is still showing some of that preseason rust.

The Cleveland Cavaliers look like a team that hasn’t found it’s identity yet.  With no effective point guard play, the ball continues to end up in the hands of LeBron James whether he wants it or not.

For the second night in a row, Anthony Parker was tasked with bringing the ball up the floor for significant stretches of the game.  A stark reminder of what Toronto had to do last season when Jose Calderon wasn’t available.

The Cavaliers also haven’t figured out how to use their big men to effect in a game either.  Once again playing a significant amount of small ball.

Fortunately from a Raptors’ standpoint, Reggie Evans made concerns about other team’s problems quite clear in a preseason interview.  “Those are not our problems!”

Winning the home opener in front of a packed house is the ideal way to start any season.  With so many changes to the team’s roster causing uncertainty and by beating the team that has owned the Raptors for several seasons, this win is especially sweet.

Next up, in Memphis on Friday.

(Note: I thought the replacement refs had been replaced by the real NBA refs?  If they were, there wasn’t much noticeable improvement!)