Chapter 4
Opening Day
''...Welcome to the Scotiabank Arena for opening day of the 2019-2020 NBA season as the reigning champions Toronto Raptors try to hold off the young and exciting Chicago Bulls!''
''Damn'' i thought. Opening day away from home against the reigning champs, Sure nobody was expecting us to win this game, or be good this year, but there is always pressure.
We hadn't won a playoff game since 2015, and fans were starting to grow a little more impatient every year. After losing Fan favorite Derrick Rose to New York and Later Jimmy Butler to Minnesota, people were certainly not happy with the front office, and wanted to see some winning basketball at this point.
What are my expectations for this years squad? im thinking grow the young guys and maybe scrape into the playoffs, but probably not. The Board and Fans saw this a little differently though. Earlyer this week i was in a meeting with the Board, they ended up telling me that they were going to expect some winning basketball in the near future, as vague as that sounds i knew what they meant. They were asking for playoffs this year.
This was already stressing me out, how is this squad going to ever reach the playoffs without me making moves? On the other hand i dont want to mess up our young core, who in give or take 2-3 years could be the home to 3 or 4 All-Star's!
Anyway, now is not the time, the game is about to start, lets see if we can lose to the Raptors with grace....
| Chicago Bulls at Toronto Raptors |
| Oct 24, 2019 | 1ST | 2ND | 3RD | 4TH | SCORE |
| Chicago (0-0) | 20 | 30 | 21 | 29 | 100 |
| Toronto (0-0) | 32 | 32 | 27 | 27 | 118 |
| Chicago Bulls |
| STARTERS | MIN | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PTS |
| C. White | 28 | 4/11 | 0/5 | 2/4 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| Z. LaVine | 30 | 8/24 | 2/10 | 3/3 | 2 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 21 |
| O. Porter | 25 | 4/11 | 3/6 | 0/0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 11 |
| L. Markkanen | 28 | 10/18 | 4/9 | 3/4 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 27 |
| W. Carter Jr. | 26 | 2/7 | 0/2 | 2/2 | 15 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 6 |
| BENCH | MIN | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PTS |
| T. Gibson | 18 | 4/7 | 1/1 | 0/0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| K. Dunn | 18 | 2/3 | 2/3 | 0/0 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| D. Valentine | 16 | 1/2 | 1/1 | 0/0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| C. Hutchinson | 11 | 3/5 | 1/2 | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| C. Felicio | DNP | | | | | | | | | |
| T. Luwawu-Cabarrot | DNP | | | | | | | | | |
| W. Lemon Jr. | DNP | | | | | | | | | |
| A. Blakeney | DNP | | | | | | | | | |
| TEAM TOTALS | 33/88 | 14/39 | 10/13 | 46 | 24 | 5 | 6 | 9 | 100 |
| Toronto Raptors |
| STARTERS | MIN | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PTS |
| K. Lowry | 32 | 9/19 | 3/7 | 0/0 | 2 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 21 |
| D. Green | 26 | 4/7 | 3/4 | 2/ | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 13 |
| K. Leonard | 30 | 14/22 | 2/2 | 2/2 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 32 |
| P. Siakam | 26 | 6/7 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| M. Gasol | 25 | 8/15 | 0/1 | 2/3 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 18 |
| BENCH | MIN | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PTS |
| F. VanVleet | 21 | 5/8 | 0/1 | 4/4 | 2 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 14 |
| S. Ibaka | 14 | 0/1 | 0/0 | 0/2 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| M. Gortat | 14 | 2/4 | 0/0 | 0/2 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| A. Jefferson | 11 | 2/3 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| N. Powell (+) | 1 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| J. Noah | DNP | | | | | | | | | |
| R. Bullock | DNP | | | | | | | | | |
| O. Anunoby | DNP | | | | | | | | | |
| TEAM TOTALS | 50/86 | 8/15 | 10/15 | 48 | 34 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 118 |
Personally, i think we did pretty well. I mean yea we were not efficient from the field and from three, but thats what happens when a young team plays against last year's best defensive team. We worked hard in the paint, grabbing boards on offense and defense.
My highlighted players
Z. LaVine: Struggled massively in the first quarter but regrouped in the second half, also showed improvement in ability to pass when he's cold.
L. Markkanen: You could see he worked on his post game this summer, and Jim was ready to highlight it, fantastic game for Lauri
C. Hutchinson: Hard worker, is everywhere on the court, improvement in Cutting ability is good to see.
C. White: Pretty bad debut, couldnt find his shot from outside. Worked well inside though, and didnt turn the ball over at all. but i need more from him