Bobby Webster talked about a sense of “giddiness” around the Toronto Raptors as they went through their final preparations for a historic franchise night.

And then Serge Ibaka sat at the microphone at the practice facility and proved the team’s general manager wasn’t imagining things.

“I’ve been asking myself, I don’t know what I’m (more) excited for, for the first game of the season or to see the rings,” a downright bubbly Ibaka said of the ceremony that will precede Tuesday night’s Raptors home opener against the New Orleans Pelicans. “I’m trying to figure out which one I’m very excited about. But I’m just excited, man. I feel so thankful for this moment.

“Man, after the last pre-season game (Friday) in Brooklyn, I was so excited for Tuesday. I said, ‘I can’t wait.’ I’m still trying to figure out what I’m excited for, for the ring or for the first game of the season.

“Normally, I used to be excited for the first game of the season. Now something beautiful is going to happen that night, too, receiving the ring. So it’s extra exciting.”

These are not normal times for the Raptors, though, and this will not be a normal first game of the long and exhausting NBA regular seasons.

A pre-game ceremony – fans have been told to be in their Scotiabank Arena seats by 7:15 p.m. with the ceremony running from about 7:25 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. – will include the presentation of rings to members of the 2018-19 championship team and the raising of a banner to the rafters of the arena.

It will certainly be an emotional start to the 25th season in franchise history.

“Obviously you have the banner, the ring, but I think there’ll just be an incredible energy around the arena and the fans,” Webster said.

“We had the pre-season game (Thanksgiving against Chicago), but I think it’ll be the first time for the fans to come back and really celebrate with the team in that sense.”

Fans will be involved in the ceremony. Each of the estimated 20,000 people in the arena will get a scaled-down, vastly less expensive replica of the championship ring while thousands more are expected at an outdoor viewing party and celebration in Jurassic Park on the east side of the arena.

The gates to the outdoor viewing area open at 5 p.m. before the 8 p.m. tipoff to the game and included in the event is the Nuit Blanche Raptors TwoFive installation “Peace to the Past, Reach For the Future,” by artists Esmaa Mohamoud and Bryan Espiritu. It will be adorned for the evening by a giant replica of the championship ring.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

There is a game to play, of course, and once the emotion of the ceremony and the final cap is put on the championship run, the players know they’ll need to get down to business.

That won’t, however, take away from the moment.

“I think that we do a pretty good job of being able to compartmentalize a little bit, and break it up into sections,” Fred VanVleet said. “This is its own thing. It’s a cap to an amazing year and amazing playoff run. Then, look forward to the new season.

“Take that in, hopefully get a little adrenalin boost or something, and we go out there and play our game. The game is long enough to be able to figure out emotions or whatever happens.”