Opening night for the Raptors isn’t quite the theatre, but it’s a production. Jersey giveaways, the class warfare of T-shirts tosses, fireworks. They had to cancel the festivities in the square outside because the weather in Toronto was, as the great Steve Rushin once wrote, like driving into a sneeze. But inside, the hype was cranked up, mostly by shouting over the PA. Toronto’s fans, after all, are a strength of this franchise.
But all that is the set, and it doesn’t work without the actors. Last season this franchise cratered in the playoffs, and Kyle Lowry hit the ground first.