Raptors produce their Magic moment in convincing home win over Orlando

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An unforced turnover to begin the night was followed by an uncontested dunk as the first early signs of what would be an uneventful game were immediately gleaned.

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But when you’re a Raptors team coming off back-to-back debacles when 40-point first quarters were yielded, no one is about to quibble on the merits of an opponent.

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The Orland Magic may some day turn into a relevant, competent and competitive team, but this group is far from reaching any degree of legitimacy.

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In many ways, the Magic’s arrival to Scotiabank Arena for a Saturday night tip provided the ideal elixir for a Raptors team that looked disjointed in a loss to the host New Orleans Pelicans followed by a second road loss in Brooklyn to the Nets.

There’s no one resembling a Zion Williamson in a Magic jersey and nor is there anyone with the handle and offensive repertoire of a Kyrie Irving.

This was not good basketball with very few moments of entertainment outside of the stoppage in play, but a win is a win and the Raptors desperately needed a win following their two-game slide.

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Other than proving that they’re a better team than Orlando, not many talking points should be extracted from Toronto’s 121-108 pasting of the Magic.

The tone was set awfully early when the visitors looked awfully bad and it just got worse.

They moved the ball, shared the ball, defended and generally executed at a decent level, but everything the Raptors achieved must be kept in perspective given the lack of quality by the opposition.

Fred VanVleet didn’t shoot well and had as many fouls as makes following three quarters.

Scottie Barnes, at one point, had two fewer rebounds than the combined total by the Magic.

Barnes made some nice no-look passes on a pretty economical night at the office.

Toronto trotted out the same starting five that began the night in Brooklyn.

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O.G. Anunoby and Pascal Siakam were head and shoulders the primary catalysts for the Raptors, who were each making shots from the field and from the charity stripe.

Siakam flirted with a triple-double, while Anunoby posted his second 30-point game of the season.

Had this game been much closer heading into the final 12 minutes, Anunoby could have scored much more than his eventual game-high 32 points.

As it was, the Raptors led 94-73 after three quarters and had no reason to run up the score.

Both were on the bench when the fourth period began.

And yet each re-entered with under five minutes remaining.

Anunoby missed both of his free throws before officially calling it a night.

With Barnes posting a double double and looking very much in sync, the Raptors were in cruise control.

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One defensive breakdown did arrive three minutes into the final quarter when a draw and kick action freed up Canadian Caleb Houstan in the left pocket.

Houston buried his open look from distance on a night when neither team was shooting that efficiently from beyond the three-point arc.

Oddly enough, Houstan was acknowledged in the first quarter when his face was shown on the overhead screen, but few in attendance had a clue on his basketball background.

Even when introduced by his Canadian citizenship, few cheered.

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FOR THE RECORD

With his fourth point of the game, Siakam moved past Il Mago, Andrea Bargnani, for fifth place on the Raptors’ career scoring list. Spicy P entered the night three points shy of Bargnani’s total of 6,581. Siakam netted 24 points in Toronto’s win … Orlando started two first-overall picks in Paolo Banchero, this year’s top selection, and Markelle Fultz, whom Philly selected first overall in 2017 when the Sixers could have taken Jayson Taytum … Toronto’s win was its ninth home win over the Magic in the past 11 meetings; teams hook up in Orlando next week for tips on Friday and Sunday … One bright spot for the woeful Magic was the play of Bol Bol, a super-sized big man with remarkably quick feet. Like his father, Manute Bol, Bol Bol doesn’t have the weight to bang inside, but the kid has game and is not afraid to take three-point shots in the flow of an offence.

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