The Toronto Raptors opened their preseason campaign on a winning note after beating the star-studded Golden State Warriors in Vancouver. On Monday, DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry will again try to lead their team to another rousing victory as they play the visiting Denver Nuggets at Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, Canada.
Preview:
Toronto showed in the pre-season opener that they are still serious title contenders this season, despite losing key personnel, including shot-blocking demon Bismack Biyombo.
Against the Warriors, Toronto leaned on their feisty defense to get them past a Warriors team that's just starting to build on-court chemistry. Nevertheless, the Raptors got a great overall game from DeMarre Carroll, who scored 14 points and limited Kevin Durant to just 2-for-9 shooting from the field in under 18 minutes of play.
Meanwhile, the Nuggets will be making their pre-season opener tonight. Talented playmaker Emmanuel Mudiay will be back for his second season, looking to lead the Nuggets back to playoff contention. He will be backed up by last season's leading scorer Danilo Gallinari (19.5 ppg) and Kenneth Faried (8.7 rpg).
The Raptors and the Nuggets split their last 10 head-to-head matches with the latter sweeping last season's two-game series.
Players to Watch:
Raptors: Jared Sullinger looks comfortable in his new role as the starting power forward for the Raptors. In their last game, the former Buckeyes recorded 10 rebounds and 7 points in 23 mins of action. It will be interesting how he will follow up that performance.
Nuggets: The spotlight will be on Jusuf Nurkic and Nikola Jokic. Last season, the two European centers never had enough chance to play together due to injuries. This season guarantees to be different with both big men healthy and ready to make a big impact.
Prediction:
The Raptors will once again get home crowd boost in Calgary, but I can see the Nuggets giving the home team's all sorts of problems inside. Nurkic-Jokic combination will be a real problem this season, and Raptors will get a dose of that right away. But after three competitive quarters, Toronto will find ultimately pick their spots and secure a double-digit win for a 2-0 preseason start.
Nuggets vs. Raptors live streaming is available only on NBA League Pass, boxscore stats, play-by-play and highlights can be followed on NBA/ Gamescast.