First Half
The Raptors started flat against the Rox, who were using an unexpected weapon to put up some points. Patrick Beverley, an unheralded point guard, found the range from beyond the arc. Dwight Howard wasn’t hurting the Raptors, and Norman Powell was doing a decent job keeping James Harden from blowing up. But Beverley’s makes, and a bunch of Raptors misses, produced a sinking feeling among the Toronto faithful. The first quarter felt like a carry-over from that hot mess of a game in Boston.
Mercifully the pain was about to end.