The Toronto Raptors were not great but they were certainly good enough to rout the Cleveland Cavaliers 116-104 at the Scotiabank Arena to open the NBA regular season on Wednesday night.The new Big Three — Kawhi Leonard (24), Kyle Lowry (27) and Danny Green (11) — combined for 62 points and Pascal Siakam chipped in with 13 for the Raptors.It wasn’t the prettiest of victories but it did get the season started on the right foot and the Raptors have known all along that it’s going to be a time-consuming process to get up to full speed.Lowry had a relatively quiet pre-season — he sat out two of five games and was ejected from another — but he came out firing when it counted. The veteran point guard made five of six shots from beyond the three-point arc and keyed a second-quarter run the created some separation. He led both teams with 27 points and eight assists.Raptors on offence: There were moments when things clicked like coach Nick Nurse wanted, transition baskets and solid ball movement, but there were enough stretches of stagnancy to show there’s plenty of work to be done. Still, shooting nearly 50 per cent from the field, including 42.4 from three-point range, is nothing to sneeze at. Getting four of five starters in double figures was nice, too. Pascal Siakam had 13 in 19 minutes, while Fred VanVleet added 14 in 25 minutes off the bench.Raptors on defence: Toronto forced 15 turnovers and held Cleveland to less than 40 per cent shooting from the field but there was never one stretch where they dominated with multiple stops and steals. It’s going to take time for everyone to get on the same page reading and reacting to each other; that time has not arrived.Finding five: After much deliberation, the Raptors settled on a somewhat traditional starting five of Lowry, Green, Leonard, Siakam and Jonas Valanciunas. It was matchup driven — Valanciunas on Tristan Thompson, and Siakam on Kevin Love — and Nurse is ...
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