The Raptors had struggled badly in the preseason this year. Their three-point shooting in particular had been downright disappointing, which left many people pessimistic about their first game.
As it turned out, many were surprised when the Raptors cruised to a 13-point win over the Timberwolves in their opener.
It was beyond most people's expectations.
Timberwolves head coach Finch could only shake his head helplessly.
He had thought Edwards' return would take the Timberwolves' overall strength to another level this year. Meanwhile, the Raptors had struggled in the preseason, and their three-pointers weren't falling.
So he had expected today's game to be a close contest with the Raptors.
Instead, they fell behind by 20 points right from the start and spent the rest of the game trying to catch up.
The gap had closed to as little as eight points, but even then, they were still chasing the score.
And whenever the five-defense lineup got going, the lead would open right back up.
In the end, it looked like they had lost by only 13 points, but the final four minutes had been garbage time.
Both teams had taken out their starters, which let the Timberwolves make up some ground.
Otherwise, the margin might have been even bigger.
Finch simply couldn't understand how the Raptors had changed so much after just three months off.
At the Commentary Booth, James watched the players from both teams talking after the game and offered his heartfelt praise:
"Today's game surprised a lot of people, and the Raptors' five-defense lineup brought us a new surprise."
"That surprise had two parts. The first was their defensive transition offense."
"In last season's Finals, their five-defense lineup was strong defensively, but they lacked some transition offense. That made the lineup less imposing."
"In this game, they had