The way things began, the way the Raptors approached Tuesday night’s tip against a depleted Orlando Magic team with no sense of urgency, no inclination to defend, doom loomed.
A complete and utter embarrassment would be averted the moment the Raptors figured out the Magic wasn’t deep enough and nor was it good enough to sustain an early surge that had the Raptors reeling.
Scottie Barnes led the way and his teammates followed, supported by a bench against an Orlando team whose bench grew thinner, one of the reasons why Toronto was able to prevail, 109-93.
Stylistically, this was not a thing of beauty pitting two teams that endured long stretches of offensive futility.
At least the Raptors did earn a degree of redemption following their Friday night loss to the host Milwaukee Bucks on a night Toronto was not good.
Once all the injured pieces are available, Orlando figures to be good.
Tuesday night, the Magic looked good at the beginning before reality kicked in, going from making every shot to missing every shot.
The Raptors aren’t accustomed to winning, which is why any win, regardless of the state of the opposition, must be savoured.
Toronto improved to 11-32 with 10 of those wins produced at Scotiabank Arena.
The Raptors’ scoring was equally distributed with Jakob Poeltl emerging as the only player who would struggle on this night before fouling out after playing only 19 minutes.
It didn’t matter because the Magic was in trouble once the opening quarter had expired.
Kelly Olynyk and Bruce Brown were good off the bench for the second game in a row.
The only real threat Toronto had to contend with was Paolo Banchero, who posted a double-double, including a game-high 26 points, in the loss.