Raptors at Magic
The Toronto Raptors showed their balance in a season-opening victory and take to road for the first time when they face the Orlando Magic on Saturday night. The Raptors, who also play at Miami on Sunday, placed seven players in double figures scoring to beat Atlanta 109-102 on Wednesday and look to extend their winning streak against the Magic to eight games. Orlando lost 105-98 in its home opener to Washington on Thursday and turned the ball over 18 times in each of its two games.
Toronto’s standout guards Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan should give the Magic’s rookie point guard Elfrid Payton a big early test. The Raptors forced 19 turnovers in their opener and are looking for their first 2-0 start since 2008. The Magic are without last season’s Rookie of the Year runner-up Victor Oladipo (facial fracture) for another few weeks and will look to center Nikola Vucevic and forward Tobias Harris to lead the way.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, SNET 360 (Toronto), FSN Florida (Orlando)
ABOUT THE RAPTORS (1-0): The backcourt duo made 7-of-27 from the field in the opener, but Lowry handed out 10 assists and DeRozan grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds while they combined for nine steals. Center Jonas Valanciunas led all scorers in the opener with 17 and forward Amir Johnson had 16 points and 10 rebounds, giving the Raptors two more strong options up front. Terrence Ross provides another wing presence for Toronto and he drained three of his five attempts from behind the arc on Wednesday.
ABOUT THE MAGIC (0-2): Payton, the 10th pick in the draft last summer, is 2-of-10 from the field in the first two games and had six turnovers against Washington. Harris (19.5 points) and Vucevic (19) have gotten off to strong starts while offseason acquisition Evan Fournier made 8-of-10 from the field for 21 points Thursday, starting alongside Payton in the backcourt. Rookie Aaron Gordon, who was picked fourth in the last draft, has posted 15 points and seven rebounds combined in his first two NBA contests.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Raptors won a franchise-record 22 road games last season, topping the previous record of 20 in 2000-2001.
2. Orlando G Ben Gordon has scored 20 or more points off the bench 99 times since 2004-05, second most in the NBA during that span
3. Toronto C Greg Stiemsma and Magic F/C Kyle O’Quinn are both listed as questionable for Saturday with ankle injuries.