Pascal Siakam tallied 23 points and 11 rebounds and the Toronto Raptors came back in the fourth quarter to defeat the visiting Cleveland Cavaliers 108-105 on Wednesday night in the season opener for both teams.
Donovan Mitchell scored 31 points and added nine assists in his Cavaliers debut.
Siakam fouled out with 16.3 seconds left and Mitchell made two free throws to cut the deficit to two. After the deficit was down to one, Precious Achiuwa’s dunk in the final second completed the scoring.
The Cavaliers lost Darius Garland with a left-eye injury late in the first half. He did not return, finishing with four points and three assists.
Gary Trent Jr. scored 19 points for Toronto, OG Anunoby added 18, Scottie Barnes and Fred VanVleet had 15 each and Achiuwa 10.
Cedi Osman scored 17 points for Cleveland. Evan Mobley scored 14, Jarrett Allen had 13 points and 10 rebounds and Caris LeVert tallied 10 points.
The Cavaliers took an eight-point lead into the fourth quarter, but the Raptors tied the game on Anunoby’s 3-pointer with 8:54 remaining.
Cleveland took a five-point lead, but Barnes gave Toronto a one-point lead with 3:31 left after VanVleet’s steal.
Trent’s 3-pointer bumped the lead to four with 2:09 to play, and Siakam’s jumper with 1:33 to play increased the margin to six.
In the first quarter, the Raptors used a 7-0 run to lead 28-22.
Toronto scored the first five points of the second quarter before the Cavaliers went on a 13-0 surge to lead by two points.
Garland went to the locker room with 3:51 left in the second quarter after taking a finger to the eye.
Osman’s 3-pointer gave Cleveland a six-point lead with 2:26 remaining in the half. Osman did not play in the first quarter but scored 13 points in the second.
LeVert made two free throws to complete the first-half scoring and give Cleveland a 57-51 lead.
Toronto tied the game on Siakam’s 13-foot jumper with 3:30 to go in the third quarter and led by one on Siakam’s free throw with 2:42 left. Cleveland finished the third on an 11-2 run to lead 84-76.
–Field Level Media
