Toronto Raptors’ Darko Rajakovic encourages patience after a slow start in the game

The Toronto Raptors suffered their worst season-opening loss in franchise history on Wednesday night, defeating the Cleveland Cavaliers 136-106.

The Cavs outscored Toronto by nearly 20 percentage points (58.6 to 41.9) and took advantage of the Raps’ slim advantage, scoring 68 points on the court compared to the home team’s 38 points.

Despite the disappointing performance, head coach Darko Rajakovic cautioned that the Raptors need time in what team president and CEO Masai Ujiri described as a rebuilding season.

“It’s the first game of the season. We definitely want to compete and win and we try to do that every night. But at the same time, we have to be patient with our young team and give these guys a chance to learn and get back into shape,” he said.

“We’re not going to get angry, we’re a really good group… we’ll learn from this,” Scottie Barnes said after scoring nine points, hitting 3 of 14 shots.

Barnes was also a bit more blunt than his head coach when describing the team’s performance.

“We just got spanked today. We have to get over it and improve our results.”

Canadian Chris Boucher, the longest-tenured Raptor who just started his seventh season in Toronto, agreed with Barnes’ assessment.

“We got hit in the face. It was probably good for us, especially since we are young,” he said. “It’s not easy to win games, so I think it’s good to realize that the season has actually started and we have to play a lot harder than we did today.”

It doesn’t get easier for the Raps. In the next three games spread over four nights beginning Friday, they will face the Philadelphia 76ers, Minnesota Timberwolves and Denver Nuggets, three teams that posted a combined record of 160-86 last season.

However, the 76ers could be without their two biggest guns. Center Joel Embiid has already been sidelined with a knee injury, and Paul George is questionable after hyperextending his knee in the preseason.

Quickley was injured in the loss

Toronto trailed 69-49 at halftime, and things got worse when defenseman Immanuel Quickley suffered a right pelvic injury and didn’t come out for the second half. Quickley fell heavily on his back after a fall late in the second quarter and was replaced in the starting lineup in the second half by Davion Mitchell.

Rajakovic told reporters after the game that Quickley was sore and the team wanted to err on the side of caution by keeping him out for the second half. He will be re-evaluated on Thursday.

Before leaving, the 25-year-old scored 13 points on 4 of 9 shooting, and also had four assists and two rebounds.


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