Toronto Raptors game previews between October 24 and October 30, including games against: Cleveland Cavaliers, Detroit Pistons.

It's here, the drought is over - the NBA is back. As another Summer passes, we witness another handful of changes throughout the association. For many fans - such as myself - the opening week of the NBA season is perhaps among the most interesting. Rookies get their first official NBA minutes, newly crafted teams and lineups see their first regular season action and most of all; the world just seems to be back in balance. Sad, lonely and desolate nights are instead filled with nights of NBA action. 

 For the Raptors, there is plenty of novelty to dig into, with the start of the season. 

• Caboclo is now only one year away (from being one year away)
• Demar and Jonas are both entering year one of their big deals.
• Jared Sullinger, his injury, and what he can help with when he gets back.
• Our first regular-season look at Poeltl and Siakam - and possibly even VanVleet!

There is obviously plenty more to get prepped for down the road, but this is what is on my mind going into the opening week. So without further ado; let's kick this season off.

Detroit Pistons

Wednesday, 26 October 2016 at 07:30 PM ET Home

After a 3-game NBA debut on Tuesday night, the Raptors tip their season off at home against the Pistons the following night.

The two teams met three times last season, with the Raptors winning two of three. 

Whenever you face off against Detroit, you will always have one thing in your game-plan; keep Drummond off the glass. It's inevitable, for the most part. Even if you negated his 4.9 offensive rebounds a game, he would still almost average a double-double with 9.9 defensive rebounds a game.

With that being said, you know that Detroit is going to be physical, and you know that their young wings are going to be flying up and down the court all night. Toronto needs to set the pace and the physicality themselves early on, or they could be in for a rough opening night.

 Toronto definitely has what it takes to put Detroit down, but it will be intriguing to see if they have the frontcourt to match up with Deroit, due to Sullinger's injury. The game is going to be physical, fast, and should be a great show to tip off both teams' seasons.

Score Prediction

Toronto 96 - Detroit 92

Cleveland Cavaliers

Friday, 28 October 2016 at 07:00 PM ET Home

The Raptors and Cavs will be meeting for the first time (preseason notwithstanding) since May 27th, where Cleveland knocked the Raps out of the ECF. 

In the regular season, Toronto came out on top, winning two out of the three match-ups. One of those wins involved a 43-point outing for Lowry, topped off with this game-winner;

On the contrary, the playoffs were a different story. The Raptors were simply outmatched in too many aspects, and went 0-4 in the Quicken Loans without even putting up a competitive score. At home, however, the Raptors swept them 2-0. 

With the three-headed dragon of Lebron-Kyrie-Love, there is a lot to account for when matching up against this team. Along with Tristan Thompson crashing the glass, JR getting hot from 3 and Frye spreading the floor - the Cavs can be a nightmare to defend.

The Cavs also added the electric Kay Felder, who will be making his NBA debut as the backup point guard. We will also see the Cleveland debut for Dunleavy, and the Birdman.

The Raptors are one of the better-suited teams to go head-to-head with Cleveland, with the abundance of wings such as Carroll, Ross, Derozan, Powell and even Patterson in a pinch. The loss of Sullinger however, has to potential to create some sticky situations for the front-court rotation.

With all this being said, the Raptors can still compete with them and we have in the past (well... at home).

I'm expecting to see a tightly contested game, with the Cavs pulling away down the stretch.

Score Prediction

Cleveland 106 - Toronto 98